A Deeper Kind of Sickness
by TeenTitansGirl14
Summary: COMPLETE Things heat up between Raven and Cyborg, but what happens when Raven finds out she’s in no condition to fight? Trigon is out to destroy the threat, and Raven and the only hope for the world might not make it. CyRae Read and Review please!
1. Sunday

**Title:** A Deeper Kind of Sickness

**Genre:** Romance/Action/Adventure

**Rating:** PG-13

**Summary:** Things heat up between Raven and Cyborg, but what happens when Raven finds out she's in no condition to fight? Trigon is out to destroy the threat, and Raven (and the only hope for the world) might not make it. CyRae Read and Review please!

**Author's Note:** This is a Cyborg and Raven romance fic. Please enjoy! It starts out light and kind of funny, but it gets darker and more serious toward the end. But who knows? Happy beginnings can come from the saddest of endings.

**Chapter 1:** Sunday

Robin tapped his foot impatiently.

"C'mon, Beast Boy, we're already twenty minutes late!"

Starfire, Cyborg, and Robin stood at the door of Titans Tower, each with a bag stuffed full of the necessities needed for a week long vacation from their "jobs." Bruce Wayne, Robin's former mentor and foster parent, had invited the team to take a break from their duties in Jump City and stay with him. Beast Boy was currently shoving things into a suitcase, and, to the annoyance of Robin, causing them to be behind schedule.

"Hold your horses, dude, I'm coming!" Beast Boy exclaimed. He crammed his clothes into the bag along with a pair of shoes. He straightened up, put his hands on his hips and looked around his room.

"I'm forgetting something, I know it…" The green changeling muttered to himself, and he spotted a small glass bottle of cologne on a shelf. He snatched it and placed it in his bag. "Ah-ha! Perfect. The ladies will be all over me with a spray of this stuff."

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and waggled his eyebrows at his reflection.

"Beast Boy, my man, you are one sexy beast." He said with satisfaction, tipping his sunglasses with a finger to wink at his mirror image. His self-admiration time was cut short as Robin irritably called his name a second time.

"Dude! What's your deal?" Beast Boy yelled at Robin, but did hasten his pace, slamming the suitcase shut and skidding down the hallway, promptly running into Raven and accidentally shoving her off of the stairs. With a surprised yell, she fell through the air and landed in Cyborg's outstretched metallic arms.

"Uhh, fancy seeing you here, Raven." Cyborg laughed at the enchantress in his arms.

"Put me down." Raven growled as Robin tried to hide his laughs.

"Whoa, sorry, Rae." Cyborg laughed, setting her upright. She glared at him, and he stopped laughing mid-chuckle and grinned sheepishly.

"Raven, are you sure you don't want to come? Bruce sent the invitation to all the Titans." Robin said, stepping out of her way to stand next to Beast Boy (who had managed to make it down the steps and had gushed, "Sorry, Raven, really!" before being scorched by Raven's death-glare). "And Cyborg, sorry you couldn't come, but I understand that you need to visit your grandparents."

"Yeah, tell him that it was appreciated though." Cyborg answered, clapping a hand on the spiky-haired leader's shoulder.

"I don't do get-togethers." Raven said icily.

"Alright then, we're off and you've got the Tower to yourself this week, Raven." Beast Boy said. "Try not to throw any radical parties without me, 'kay?" He joked, nudging her.

"I'll try to hold back," Raven said sarcastically, pushing Beast Boy away from her.

"We will be home again soon, Raven!" Starfire said happily to her friend. "Be not unhappy or saddened as we depart, friend!"

"Have a good time, Starfire." Raven said obligingly. "I'm going to my room. Lock the door when you leave." She walked away without another word to her fellow Titans, and none of them noticed when she looked back one last time at, curiously enough, Cyborg.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go already!" Beast Boy said enthusiastically to Starfire and Robin as the four of them exited Titans Tower. "I've got babes to mingle with."

Robin grinned and waved goodbye to Cyborg, and the Titans parted ways to enjoy well-deserved vacations.

"_Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos._"

Raven floated cross-legged above the floor in front of the huge window in the living room, her cloak trailing gently on the ground. She was bathed in the orange glow of the sunset that shone through the glass of the living room wall. The beautiful view of a sunset offered by the wall of glass was blocked out by the calm darkness she meditated in as she chanted.

"_Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos. Azarath. Metri –_"

The entrance to Titans Tower burst open and a deep voice bellowed,

"Honey, I'm home!"

"YAHHH!!" Raven cried, and fell from her suspension, shaken rudely from her reverie. She turned to see her half-robot friend doubled over in laughter as she shakily stood, brushing herself off and fuming.

"Ah," – gasp – "you should have," – gasp – "seen the look," –gasp –"on your face!" Cyborg managed to say through a fit of hysterics.

"You aren't funny, Cyborg." Raven said angrily. "I was meditating! Besides, you aren't even supposed to be here! Didn't you leave with everyone else this morning?"

"Yeah, about that," Cyborg said, the smile sliding off his face. "My grandparents couldn't have me this week, they'd planned for next week and hadn't changed the date. They have other company and no room right now, so I'm back here."

Raven scowled.

"Looks like it's you and me, Rae." Cyborg said good-naturedly. He jumped over the back of the couch and reclined with the remote in his hand, flipping channels.

Raven blew a piece of hair out of her face.

"This is going to be a looong week." She muttered, but somewhere inside her she knew she was going to like it.

**Author's Note:** There it is, the first short chapter of this fic. I've already started chapter two. Please review (since I assume you've read)!


	2. Monday

**Author's Note: **Hopefully my chapters will get longer! sweat drop

**Chapter 2:** Monday

The late morning was warm and sweet over Titans Tower. The sun's rays were pale and unabrasive, and the breeze blowing off the water through the open windows was cool and refreshing. Raven yawned. Small strips of light wormed their way through the dark shades on her windows and lay in warm lines on her bedspread.

_'Nice day…'_ Raven observed as she gazed out at the water surrounding the Tower. _'I wonder when I'll see Cyborg… Wait – what am I thinking?! I don't like him… Not like _that_…'_

The lamp on her dresser exploded.

_'Oookay, better stop this train of thought.'_

The enchantress shook her head to clear her mind, got up and stretched. She grabbed a towel from the fluffy pile near her bedside table, and walked toward the bathroom. Running a hand through her short purple locks (which were currently dealing with a bad case of bed head), Raven walked over to her door and exited has it slid open to let her out. Bare feet padding on the soft carpet of the hallway, Raven brought her hand to her mouth to cover another yawn when she bumped into something tall and metallic.

"Oof. Sorry, Raven." Cyborg apologized as they collided. When she didn't glare or fire back with her trademark cutting responses, he raised an eyebrow slightly. "I was just heading down to the kitchen to make some breakfast. Want to come?"

"Sounds nice, Cyborg." Raven said genially before stifling a third yawn. "I'm taking a shower first, though."

Cyborg nearly fell over. Raven – being nice?

"Um, okay… See you later, then." He said awkwardly, watching the petite figure walk into the bathroom and shut the door.

In the bathroom, Raven slowly undressed and turned on the hot water. Stepping in, she stared up into the showerhead and sighed as she felt the soothing pricks of hot water on her body. _'Showers,'_ Raven thought, _'are one of the best inventions of mankind.'_ She grabbed the shampoo and conditioner and quickly washed her short hair. After about ten minutes, Raven turned the water off and treaded of the shower, feeling much refreshed. After a moment of rummaging in drawers, Raven donned her usual cloak and leotard garb. She brushed her teeth and combed through her wet hair with her deft fingers before taking a last glance at herself in the mirror and leaving the bathroom.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Cyborg was having a great time. With no Beast Boy to argue about the ethics of eating meat, Cyborg had compiled a great stock of breakfast-worthy meats and was taking great delight in frying as many as he could at once.

"Smells good." Raven said as she entered the kitchen.

Cyborg looked up, and, seeing her, gave her a warm smile. Somehow, Raven felt something inside her warm, and she returned his smile with a slight rouge growing on her cheeks.

"B.B. can't give me any grief, so I'm making three different kinds of sausage, four different kinds of bacon, and two different kinds of breakfast steak." Cyborg exclaimed, flipping bacon with an obscenely large spatula and whistling happily.

Raven laughed quietly, and the rare sound echoed sweetly in the room. Cyborg was, once again, surprised by her uncharacteristic good mood, but didn't say anything about it as he grinned charmingly and offered her waffles.

"Waffles? No thanks, Cyborg, I'm sticking to herbal tea."

Cyborg's face fell.

"But… all this food… and… you can't resist my waffles!" He cried in mock anguish.

Raven sighed, but a small smile still lingered on her pale face.

"Fine, I'll join you for breakfast."

Cyborg grinned hugely and set a huge, steaming plate of various breakfast meats and a tower of waffles in front of her.

"Aww yes, very nice!" He beamed, sitting across from her and digging into the mound of food in front of him. Raven gave a small smile and took a bite of a piece of maple sausage.

"Mmm." She said in surprise. "This actually_ is_ good."

"What? How could it be anything else?" Cyborg said, seemingly perplexed.

Raven rolled her brilliant violet eyes and dug into her waffles, eating with, although much less than Cyborg, relative enthusiasm. The pair finished eating in companionable silence, Cyborg occasionally stealing glances at his teammate.

_'She really is pretty…'_ Cyborg found himself thinking as he watched Raven take a sip of her tea before cutting off another piece of waffle. He shook himself mentally. _'She'd never like you like that, Cyborg, give up and stop being stupid. Raven's a loner, she'd never fall in lo –'_

"Cyborg. Cyborg. _Cyborg!_"

"A-wha?" Cyborg said stupidly.

"You were staring at me." Raven said, looking at Cyborg as though he had lost his mind. "Watching me eat can't be nearly as fascinating as you were making it seem."

Cyborg grinned sheepishly and laughed at himself.

"Sorry… just spaced out for a second there…"

Raven stood up, plate in hand. Surprisingly, it was empty.

"Mmm, that was good. I'm done. Thanks for the breakfast, Cy." Raven said, and then she leaned over and kissed Cyborg gently on the cheek. As if suddenly realizing what she was doing, she stood up quickly and blushed, embarrassed by her actions. A vase of flowers on the counter shattered, followed by the microwave, which flew open, smoking. She placed her dish in the sink and ascended the stairs to her room without saying a word, leaving Cyborg frozen in his seat. He slowly brought his hand to his cheek, stunned, and smiled.

Nine hours later, Raven had read, meditated, done laundry, visited her depressing café, and read some more. Cyborg had spent the day in the mechanical rooms of Titans Tower, tinkering with the T-car and other various projects he had under way.

Now, Raven floated above her bed, trying to meditate, but she couldn't keep her mind focused. Focused and away from her crush – no, her friend, her _friend_ – and the embarrassing incident after breakfast…

"_Azarath. Metrion. Zin_ – Oh, what's the use?" She cried, throwing her hands up. The clay statue of the theatre faces exploded, sending their ceramic remains all over her room.

"Crap." Raven said, her voice monotone and irritated. She glanced at the glowing red numerals on the face of the digital clock by her bed. They blinked, **6:00 pm**. She dropped from her levitated place in the air and buried her face in a pillow, ignoring the shatter of another breakable item in her room.

**Knock, knock.**

Raven lifted her head up.

"Come in," She said, getting up and reluctantly welcoming her visitor.

The door slid open to reveal her half-metal roommate. He walked in and looked around.

"Wow. Still looks about the same since I was last here." Cyborg said, recalling his and Beast Boy's reckless journey into her mind through her meditation mirror.**** He moved around some of the broken glass and ceramic pieces on the floor with his foot. "It was cleaner, though." He joked.

"What do you want?"

Cyborg sighed inwardly. He was hoping her abnormal good humor would last. Apparently, not.

"I don't know, there's nothing to do. Want to watch some TV or something?"

Raven scowled.

"You came into my room to ask me to watch television with you?"

"Uhh, well, kinda, I guess, yeah." Cyborg said nervously.

Raven rolled her large purple eyes. She looked around her room. _'I should meditate, but…' _Something inside her told her to go. She looked up at Cyborg's expectant face, and for the third time that day something flipped over in her stomach.

"There's not much to do here, either, I guess. Fine, I'll come." She said.

Cyborg looked surprised, but smiled at her. She smiled back, and the two made their way to the large couch in the living room. Cyborg grabbed the remote off the coffee table, put his feet up and his arm over the back of the couch, and started flipping channels. Raven sat down near him, watching the channels flash by on the huge TV owned by the Titans.

"I have an idea," Raven said, somewhat timidly, after a few minutes of channel surfing.

Cyborg looked over at her. "Cool. What is it?"

Spurred on by Cyborg's openness, Raven continued.

"Why don't we watch a movie?" She asked. "I just rented a great one. And, I'm sure you'll like it because it's Horrific Science Fiction." She gave him a small smile, and Cyborg warmed all over from it.

"Sounds like a great idea, Rae. I'll make the popcorn, you go get the flick!"

Raven floated up from her seat on the couch and retrieved the movie from her room. By the time she got back and had put the tape into the VCR, the buttery smell of popcorn reached her nose. Cyborg had a bowl of the steaming movie food and was getting settled on the couch.

"Wait, Cyborg… I thought I sort of… blew up the microwave?" She said, grinning sheepishly in a way almost reminiscent of her popcorn-bearing friend.

Cyborg waved her comment away with the hand draped over the back of the seat.

"Didn't you know? We have like three extras for when you blow them up."

Raven laughed quietly, and sat next to Cyborg. Cyborg opened his mouth to say something but she shushed him.

"Shh, it's starting!"

Raven scooted closer to Cyborg and grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl in his lap. She leaned back in her seat and didn't seem to notice when Cyborg moved closer to her. The two sat together and watched the movie (which turned out to be a surprisingly good horror film with just the right amount of sci-fi mixed in), but by the time the credits were rolling, neither got up to shut off the screen.

Both teens were sound asleep, Raven with her head resting on Cyborg's chest, and Cyborg with his arms around her.

**Author's Note:** Awww! I love that end picture. Oh, and another thing, these are _roughly _the ages of the Teen Titans in this fic, oldest to youngest:

**Cyborg:** 18

**Starfire:** 17

**Robin:** 17

**Raven:** 17

**Beast Boy:** 16

Um, yeah… there we go… Sucks for Beast Boy, he's the youngest! Lol

Review!


	3. Tuesday

**Author's Note:** Trying to write fast…. Just for you! hugs potential reviewer

**Chapter 3:** Tuesday

Cyborg's organic eye felt the warming rays of sunshine before his cybernetic one blinked into activation. A low, repetitive tune played in the background, which Cyborg vaguely noted as the movie theme from the video last night. He felt well rested and comfortable. Lying on his side, Cyborg smiled and yawned, and frowned a bit when something tickled his cheek. His eyes opened and he realized he and Raven were still in the living room of Titans Tower. Raven was curled next to him with her head resting on his arm. Her back was to his chest and the curtain of hair that had fallen in her face fluttered with each breath she drew, and one lock kept floating up, tickling Cyborg's face. He moved his left arm, which was wrapped securely around Raven's waist, and grabbed the remote, turning off the halted credits that still hung on the television screen.

His movement awoke Raven, who groaned at the bright morning light in her eyes and turned over, facing Cyborg. She opened her eyes and gasped when she realized she and Cyborg were so close, but she didn't move.

"Uhh… good morning?" Raven said awkwardly.

Cyborg laughed.

"Have a good night's sleep?" He joked.

Raven smiled.

"Actually… I did." She said, looking into Cyborg's eyes with her violet ones. Cyborg's laughter slowly died as he gazed back. Suddenly, without fully knowing what he was doing, Cyborg closed the short distance between them with a kiss, moving his hand from her waist to her back. Raven's eyes widened and several kitchen appliances exploded, but she returned the kiss, and the two Titans parted breathlessly after a moment and stared at each other.

"Umm… sorry about that, I…" Cyborg began helplessly. "We should… we should get up… umm…"

"Uhh… oh, yeah, um…" Raven said just as weakly, untangling their arms and standing, offering her hand to Cyborg as he got up as well. The pair faced each other, the morning glow of the sun resting on their shoulders. The room was eerily quiet.

"So, um… I'll see you later, huh?" Cyborg said, his voice low.

"Yeah…" Raven murmured, stepping closer to him. "Yeah…"

But she pressed her hand to the side of his face and kissed him once more before breaking away and sweeping down the hall, light bulbs shattering with flashes and sharp echoes in her wake.

After a quick run-through of his morning wash and hygiene routine, Cyborg paced his room, berating himself.

_'Cyborg, what were you thinking? You shouldn't've acted on your crush, you're so_ stupid_!'_

_'But you're in love.'_ A mysterious little voice in his head said, _'People always to crazy things when they're in love.'_

_ 'I know, I know…' _Cyborg allowed reluctantly.

_'But,'_ His coy conscious continued, _'She _did_ return your kiss, right? And then she kissed you again.'_

_'That's true…'_

_'Maybe she likes you, too. Who knows?'_

_'Yeah… yeah!'_ Cyborg thought enthusiastically, but then his good mood dropped.

'She might've just been, I dunno, but I can't believe she would fall in love with me.'

_'If she wasn't, why did she sleep with you?'_ Cyborg's mysterious conscious questioned slyly.

Cyborg colored.

'Sleep with –' 

_'Cyborg, you pervert, you know what you mean.'_

_'Well, yeah, but… wait a second! Am I holding a conversation with myself?!'_

_'More like an argument…'_ His chatty conscious said drolly.

'Shut up.'

_ 'You can't tell me to shut up, I'm you!'_

"Whatever." Cyborg growled out loud.

"What was that?" A third voice asked interestedly.

Cyborg looked up to see his only resident roommate peering into his room, freshly showered and dressed, and smelling slightly of something citrus. He put his hand on the back of his neck, grinning guiltily.

"Just, uhh… talking to myself, that's all."

"Alright," Raven answered in her monotone voice. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to come with me. I'm going to the mall."

"The mall?" Cyborg asked, genuinely perplexed. "I thought you didn't like that place."

"Ehh, it's alright." Raven said, leaning against the doorframe. "I just don't go very often."

"Um, sure, Rae, I'll come." Cyborg said.

"Great. Let's go." Raven answered, appearing a bit happier. They trudged down to the T-car and got in, Cyborg behind the wheel and Raven riding shotgun. The short drive to the shopping mall was uneventful but calm, and Raven took the time to meditate momentarily after thinking sarcastically, _'If things like what took place this morning happen, I'll be blowing up stores.'_

"Ahh, we're here! The fabulous home of Waffle Kitchen!" Cyborg exclaimed as they walked through the tall, lit entrance doors and into the cavernous home of shops and stores. People walked hurriedly from one place to another, teenagers lagged reluctantly behind their fast-walking families or in groups of friends, and babies in strollers cried as their mothers waited in long lines to pay for their purchases.

Raven looked over at her friend and raised an eyebrow.

"Waffle Kitchen? Didn't you just eat breakfast?"

Cyborg sweat dropped.

"Uhh, you can never have too many waffles?" He offered pathetically with a grin on his face.

Raven rolled her eyes and laughed, the low chime of it lost in the echoing building. Cyborg grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

"To Waffle Kitchen!" He cried excitedly, making Raven laugh her subdued laugh again.

"Hey, hey, hey!" A greasy man in a black tux cried as the two passed. He stood in front of a single standing island shop nearly dripping with jewelry. He waved his bejeweled hand at Cyborg. "We've got a sale going on! Buy a diamond ring for your lady, sir! Guaranteed to win her heart!"

Cyborg and Raven stared at the man like he'd lost his mind. Seeing his potentially lost customers, the salesman hurried to cover his mistake.

"Or, you could buy some jewels for your mother! Make her smile each morning as she sees the trinkets you've bought her!"

The greasy man gestured to a large display of wrought gold and silver necklaces and bracelets, some encrusted with gems of many colors. Raven gave the man a death glare, and this time it was Raven who grabbed her companion's hand dragged the other deeper into the mall. The salesman waved them goodbye.

"Remember, we're open weekdays!" He called frantically.

"Salesmen are so pushy these days," Cyborg said conversationally once they'd left earshot. "That guy was kinda creepy though."

"Is creepy bad?" Raven asked.

"Well, nah, you're takin' me wrong. That was slimy creepy. You've got the good creepiness." Cyborg explained, somehow missing the fact that what he'd said made little sense.

Raven smiled.

"Ah! Look –" She said, grabbing Cyborg's arm and pointing him toward a corner shop with "Herbal Expressions" written loopy scrawl on the glowing sign above the entryway. Cyborg raised his eyebrows.

"This is where you go?" He asked as they entered the dimly lit café and found a seat at a round table.

"Yeah," Raven answered, blowing a piece of her purple hair out of her amethyst eyes. She gestured to a tall boy in baggy black jeans wearing an equally loose black shirt with the word "Gothica" embellished on it. A stylish beret rested at an angle over his dark brown hair. "There's Sean, sometimes he'll sit next to me during a poetry open mic."

Cyborg felt a twinge of jealously.

"You're friends?"

Raven looked up at Cyborg, who didn't tower over her as much as he had in the past; she'd gotten taller.

"I guess you could call us that," She shrugged. Cyborg's jealousy didn't fade when the boy walked over.

"Raven." Sean said, totally disregarding Cyborg. Cyborg surreptitiously stepped closer to Raven, clenching his teeth.

"Sean." Raven said.

"Brought you tea." Sean said, placing the steamy cup onto the table. "So… going to the poetry reading next week?" He continued, ignoring Cyborg again.

"Uhh." Raven glanced at Cyborg out of the corner of her eye. He seemed angry at something. She shrugged it off mentally. "I don't know, maybe."

"Want to come with?" Sean asked, hands in his pockets. Cyborg bit down harder to keep himself from talking.

"I… I'll think about it." Raven answered coolly. _'What's with Cyborg?'_ She thought.

"Cool." Sean said slowly, and drifted away from their table to talk to another group of people.

"Let's go, Rae," Cyborg said, standing up and feeling a little more than green with envy.

"Alright," Raven said reluctantly, picking up the tea that Sean had given her and starting toward the exit. "Let's go."

The two walked out of poetry café and strolled through the loud mall for a while. Raven even endured Cyborg's stop at the Waffle Barn, where Cyborg convinced her to sit with him and buy a waffle or two, which, although slightly annoying, made her smile. After their bite to eat, the two split up to shop on their own for a while. When they finally met up again, it was getting late. The mall lights were coming on and the place glittered with white garland lights wrapped around poles and in the ceiling to add whimsical effects. Cyborg held the glass door open for Raven as they left the mall and entered the darkening parking lot, scanning the expanse of pavement for the T-car until Cyborg remembered the locator he'd installed. Shaking her head, Raven followed her cybernetic friend to his car and got in.

The trip to Titans Tower wasn't a long one, and when they arrived and entered the Tower, Cyborg remembered the conversation Sean and Raven had had.

"Rae, you're not really gonna go with that guy, are you?" Cyborg demanded some time after they had arrived home, looking at her as she sipped some herbal tea.

"Why should it matter if I do?" She said serenely, but there was an icy hint in her tone.

"Well… I dunno, I just don't like him!"

Raven glanced at Cyborg over the top of her tea.

"Is it him you don't like, or is it me going with him that you don't like?"

Cyborg started. It was amazing how easily she always seemed to get to the root of the problem.

"Hey!" He said defensively. "I never said I had a problem with it!"

"Then why are you asking me about it, Cyborg?" Raven said coldly, her voice rising.

"He's weird, don't go with him, that's all!" Cyborg said, volume increasing to cover her voice.

Raven stood.

"He's weird? He's _weird_?" She demanded angrily, louder than before. "He wears dark clothes and likes dark, depressing poetry and hangs out in gloomy cafés and _that's_ what you don't like?"

Cyborg threw up his hands.

"Raven, you know that's not what I meant!"

"Than what did you mean, Cyborg, what did you mean?!"

Raven's glass of tea exploded in her anger. It was mostly empty, but the remaining liquid in the cup splattered the two yelling figures.

"I mean he's bad news! You could get hurt!"

"I can take care of myself!"

"It's not that!" Cyborg yelled in frustration. Raven stopped.

"What is it, then, Cyborg?" Raven said quietly. He hesitated.

"I just… I don't want you getting hurt, Raven." He sighed.

Silence.

"Look, sorry for bothering you." Cyborg said bitterly. "I'll see you in the morning." He turned to leave.

"Cyborg, wait." Raven said, biting her lip.

He turned heavily.

"What is it?"

Raven levitated herself to Cyborg's eye level. She kissed him softly.

"Thanks," She whispered, leaning her forehead against his.

"For what?" He answered, dazed by the kiss and genuinely confused.

"For caring." She said simply.

**Author's Note:** The end of Tuesday! God, they kiss a lot but don't admit their feelings, huh? Better get them together soon... heh heh heh

Please review!


	4. Wednesday

**Author's Note:**  I know what needs to be done in this fic, but I'm trying to make the characters not _incredibly_ OOC, which I feel like I'm failing abysmally at. L  Are Raven and Cyborg acting out of character?  Please tell me honestly.  Now… on to Wednesday!

**Chapter 4:**  Wednesday

            "_Azarath.  Metrion.  Zinthos._"

            Raven floated peacefully in the familiar dark expanse of her mind, calming herself and gathering control of her powers.

            "_Azarath.  Metrion.  Zinthos._"

            Raven's petite figure bobbed up and down in the air, suspended by the strong force of her mind through meditation.  Her blue cloak brushed the floor, making a soft swishing sound each time.  She held her hands upward but relaxed, chanting the words that called forth her powers.

            "_Azarath.  Metrion.  Zinthos._"

            It was Wednesday, and three days had passed since Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy had left for Bruce Wayne's mansion and a weeklong vacation.  She vaguely wondered what her friends were up to.

            "_Azarath.  Metrion.  Zinthos._"

            Raven cleared her mind, breathing deep and exhaling.  Control was everything.  Hiding her emotions deep inside her soul so that she didn't have to worry about exploding or shattering things.  Her extremely sensitive, emotion-driven powers could only be tamed by concentration and meditation.

            "_Azarath.  Metrion.  Zinthos.  A_zarath.  Metrion.  Zinthos."

            "Raven?" 

            Raven opened one eye.

            "Yes?" 

            Cyborg opened his mouth to say something, changed his mind, and started over.  Raven drifted down from her levitated place in the air and sat Indian-style on floor.

            "Raven, I really like you, and I want to know where we stand." 

            Raven started, but covered her surprise well.  She knew this was coming, and she dreaded it and wished for it to come at the same time.  She started to speak, but was cut off when the lights in the room flashed red and the alarm sounded.

            "Trouble," Raven said, hurrying over to the consol and scanning the map displayed over the screen.  "I thought the police were on it this week!"

            Cyborg nodded grimly, then gave Raven a halfhearted grin.

            "Hey, since my man Robin isn't here, I might as well say it for him.  TITANS, GO!"

            "Run!"  Screamed a woman to the crowd around her.  She followed her own advice, heels clicking on cement as she ran as fast as she could.  Behind her, a cackling roar could be heard, followed by sharp bolts of electricity arching through the air.  People around screamed as the electric monster sizzled everything in its path, and an ambulance could be heard in the distance, growing louder as it approached.  Law enforcement vehicles surrounded the area, but were forced to draw back as Overload made his way toward them.  Helpless, the police retreated alongside scared citizens, much to the outrage of the latter party.  One of citizen stood his ground and declared over the noise that his tax dollars better be going to something worthwhile if this was all he was getting from the government safety-wise.  Overload cackled and made his way through the panicking streets, burning and scorching everything in his path.

            "Where are the Teen Titans?!" A woman cried, seeking refuge inside a store selling tires.

            "Right here."  Cyborg said, cannon raised into the air and charging blue.  He was about to shoot when Raven yelled.

            "No, Cyborg!  The beam only feeds into his energy.  We need another way to defeat him."

            Her dark powers captured a fire hydrant and ripped it open, directing the pressure of the water toward their enemy.  The pent up pressure pushed the water forward with amazing force, colliding with the side of the creature's head.  Overload bellowed, but instead of dwindling to a steaming chip, he merely doubled in size, seemingly swallowing the onslaught of liquid.

            "Uh-oh."  Raven said unnecessarily as Overload turned toward the two lone Titans.

            "MOVE!" Cyborg yelled, pushing Raven out of the way as Overload sent a tentacle of static electricity toward his foes.  Cyborg cried out as the electricity ran through his body, mechanical and not, sending him slamming into the glass display windows of a nearby shop.  There was no movement within.

            "Cyborg!"  Raven screamed hoarsely.  She turned to the monster, eyes glowing red and hands encased in the dark powers she possessed.

            "You'll pay for that one."  She said murderously.  She raised her hands into the air.  "YAHH!"  She yelled as she sent everything she had, all her emotions, at the monster in front of her.  It stared stupidly at Raven as her hate, joy, anger, sadness, love, and more hit it head on.  Shrieking, Overload melted to the ground, hit by something more than just the force of the black voltage that came from the blue-clad enchantress.  Raven wearily slipped from the air to the pavement below, breathing heavily. 

She stood and made her way through the broken scene to the shop window.  The display was shattered, glass showering everything within the vicinity.  Raven gingerly advanced past the shards of glass, coming upon a dark line of skid marks that indicated where her cybernetic roommate lay.  She looked up and saw him on his back, eyes shut.  Running over, she knelt by his side and shook him roughly.

"Cyborg.  Cyborg, wake up."  She said vehemently.  She grabbed him by his broad shoulders and shook him again.  "Wake up, Cyborg.  Wake _up_!"

She mentally berated herself for never asking any one how to bring a robot back to consciousness.  More specifically, a half-robot, half-human who she was feeling more than infatuation for.  Much more.  She didn't even know what was wrong with his systems!  The smart choice would be to contact Robin, who undoubtedly _did_ know.  But who knew if Cyborg would be okay for that long?  Gotham City was too far away.

Throwing caution to the wind, Raven summoned her strength and placed her illuminated hands on Cyborg's chest.

"Here goes nothing," Raven muttered.

She released her hold on the black void in her palms.  It hovered over Cyborg's chest and, strangely, absorbed into the metal that covered it.  Cyborg levitated a moment and then fell heavily onto the hard linoleum of the store floor.  His eyes opened slowly (or rather, one eye opened and the other winked on and off before glowing a steady red) and he blinked a few times, Raven's face swimming into view.  He sat up and rubbed his neck.

"Ugh, I feel like I just got hit in the head with a ton of bricks."  He groaned.  He saw a weary Raven kneeling beside him and said, "What happened?"

"You jumped in front of Overload's shot and got hit by his electricity."  Raven said, helping Cyborg up.  "I didn't know what to do, so I tried to fix you with my powers.  I… I guess it worked."  She added sheepishly.

Cyborg grinned and flexed his fingers. 

"Yeah, but you know you probably coulda just plugged me in somewhere to recharge me."

Raven flushed and Cyborg laughed.

"Oh well.  So where's Overload?"  Cyborg asked.

"Uhhh."  Raven said uncertainly, but glad to be off their previous subject.  "I think I killed him."

A bright light grew offensively brilliant and flashed and sparked.  Three bolts of electricity sparked and burned with incredibly heat, uninvited and horribly close to their target.  Raven and Cyborg gasped, and Cyborg shoved Raven behind him protectively. 

"Wait, hey!"  Raven exclaimed before glaring evilly at Cyborg and pushing him away to stand her own.  He looked at her with an apologetic smile, which she didn't return; having other people protect her just wasn't Raven's way.

Overload had miraculously revived, and was approaching the store.  But before the Titans could strike, Overload seemed to overload on himself.  Hiccupping and coughing, Overload staggered backward, falling down and gurgling deep in its invisible throat.  The brilliance of electricity that made up the villain faded as the creature coughed and sputtered, retching with each breath he took. 

"What the…" Cyborg trailed off, backing away.

"Something's affecting him."  Raven level-headedly spoke.  "I don't know what it is, but it's stopped him in his tracks."

The two stood by uncertainly as they watched Overload gag and choke, slowly shrinking and diminishing in intensity. 

"The most," – gasp – "powerful," – choke – "emotion –" Overload ground out as he died, unable to finish his sentence. Silence reigned over the empty, half-demolished street.  Cyborg and Raven looked at each other, and then Cyborg reached out and broke the chip in half.

Back at the Tower, Raven made herself some herbal tea to calm her nerves after the fight.  She stirred slowly, breathing in the soothing scent of chamomile and lavender as the metal spoon clinked melodically on the sides of the mug.  She dunked the tea bag twice before scooping it out and tossing it into the garbage.  She blew on her drink once, and was almost surprised (but not quite) when she saw Cyborg sitting at the table.

She sat across from him.

"You're wanting an answer to your question?"  She murmured, sipping her tea.

Cyborg wasn't surprised any more that she practically knew what he was thinking.  He sighed inwardly; he wasn't a mushy guy, but something had made him fall for Raven and he couldn't not tell her.

"Rae… I think…" Cyborg stopped, correcting himself.  "No, I know it… I'm falling in love with you."

Raven's beautiful violet eyes widened and she set down her tea.  She got up from her seat and stood in front of him.  Her heart beat fast and she looked into Cyborg's eyes.

"I was waiting for you to say that."  She whispered.  "Waiting for a long, long time."

Cyborg stood and took her in his arms, and the two kissed passionately, bumping into things as they blindly made their way out of the kitchen and to the horseshoe couch.  Raven pushed Cyborg over, and he fell over the back of the couch with Raven on top of him.  The lights in the city lost power as Raven's abilities went haywire momentarily.  As the room turned dark and flickered back to light five minutes later, Raven nervously laughed at Cyborg, who was staring at her.

"Umm… accident?"  She joked dryly before kissing him soundly.  Locking lips once more, the two lovers rolled off the seats and onto the floor, lost in each other's arms.

Farther away in Gotham City, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Robin were enjoying the halfway point of their vacation.  The Wayne mansion was beautiful and spacious, luxurious and comfortable, and the three friends were having lots of fun.  Currently, they were dining with Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman.

            "…And basically this is the coolest place I've ever been to aside from the fact that it has no babes."  Beast Boy finished happily.  He gestured with his fork and splattered Starfire (who burst out laughing) with a bit of gravy.

            Bruce smirked at Beast Boy's last statement.

            "Yes, my home does seem to be a bit… babe-less."  He joked with surprisingly Raven-like humor.

            Suddenly, the lights flickered violently on and off. 

            Robin looked around.

            "Weird."  He said.  "Power surge, I guess."

** Author's Note:**  Please review!  Next chapter coming as soon as possible!  I'm trying to make them longer.


	5. Thursday

**Author's Note:** Moving along… let's get this week over with… lol

**Chapter 5:** Thursday

Cyborg bustled around the kitchen in Titans Tower cooking a breakfast to rival the one he had shared with Raven three days ago, despite the fact that it was practically noon and the sun was high in the sky. Mouthwatering aromas drifted through the corridors and halls of the Tower. Bacon, sausage, toast, waffles, eggs, potatoes, onions, and more filled pans and bowls, making up more food than either teen could have eaten. Totally disregarding the irrational amount of breakfast he was cooking, Cyborg's thoughts couldn't leave the one woman he'd admired for so long and now, loved.

_'She loves me!'_ Was his one thought. _'She actually loves me!'_

He scooted the sausages around in the frying pan, invoking a sizzling sound and a strong aroma of spicy meat, and thought back to earlier. He had woken up that morning with Raven in his arms, _'A feeling I could get used to,' _he jokingly mused, and everything they had done that night came back to him. His breath hitched as he looked at the beautiful young woman who he loved, and he pressed a kiss to her lips as she slept. The psychic enchantress had woken at his kiss, and they lay together for a while as the dawn broke. It was their mutual consensus that it was worth it, even if a blackout had been caused.

_"Hey,"_ Raven had pointed out in her dry humor. _"The lights came back on, didn't they?"_

Raven and Cyborg had walked to their separate rooms, washed, and gotten ready for the day as usual, but both had seemed to notice a tugging at their hearts as the other left.

Cyborg pulled himself back to the present as he smelled burning bacon.

"Hey!" He yelled at the pan, grabbing the handle and sweeping it off the burner. He set it down and scowled at the black bacon. Behind him he heard a subdued laugh.

"What a wonderful chef you are, Cyborg." Said a sarcastic monotone voice.

Cyborg turned around and swept Raven off her feet, pulling her into an embrace and kissing her soundly. The two glasses Cyborg had been about to put orange juice in shattered. Raven returned the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling Cyborg away from the kitchen.

"Hey, sorry, I can't let this burn." Cyborg said into the kiss.

"What?" Raven murmured absently, continuing the smooch, as a second pan started to smoke.

Cyborg broke the kiss and jumped frantically around the room, turning off the stove, scraping food remains off pans and salvaging the unburned. Raven smiled as Cyborg placed a plate of delicious-looking (though slightly black around the edges) breakfast in front of her.

"Thanks," She said. Cyborg grinned and sat down beside her. The two looked at their breakfasts and picked up their forks but were cut short when the huge consol that served as television screen and GameStation consol blinked and sounded twice. Cyborg grabbed Raven's hand, pulled her out of her seat and skidded in front of the screen, towing her along. Robin's face appeared and he grinned at Cyborg.

"Hey, Raven, Cyborg. Cy, didn't think I'd see you! What happened?" The leader of the Titans asked his friend enthusiastically.

"Eh, my grandparents had other company an' no room for me." Cyborg explained. "So, what's up?"

"Just checking in with Raven about that blackout last night. Hey…" Robin trailed off, raising an eyebrow. "Why are you holding hands?" He asked curiously.

Cyborg and Raven dropped each other's hands like they were hot coals. Robin stared, gave them a confused look, and then continued, addressing Raven.

"Did the Tower experience the blackout too, Raven?" Robin asked.

"Yeah. More than you know." Raven said dryly, her face absolutely Poker-worthy. It was everything Cyborg could do not to burst out laughing, despite the potentially embarrassing meaning behind Raven's words, and Robin raised an eyebrow.

"Umm, yeah. Well, do you think we should check it out? Have any leads?"

Raven looked around.

"Nah. It didn't last long anyway, couldn't've been that harmful, I guess. I'll look into it if it happens again." She said.

"Good," Robin said, apparently satisfied. He grinned at his two friends. Only one grinned back. "Have fun, we'll see you guys on Friday. Bruce had to cut the visit a day short."

Robin's magnified face on the screen shimmered twice before the picture folded in on itself, leaving it black. Cyborg looked at Raven, and burst out laughing. Raven even cracked a smile.

"Rae, if we ever play cards with the other Titans, I want you on my team." Cyborg laughed, but stopped when he saw Raven looked glum, even more than she usually did.

"Cyborg, we have a problem." Raven said grimly.

"What is it?"

"What are we going to do about you and me? What will we say to our friends?"

Cyborg put his hand on the back of his neck, looking as grim as his new girlfriend.

"I never even thought about that." He admitted.

Raven scowled.

"We can't keep it a secret from them, so we'll just have to tell them. I just don't want to say anything right away." The enchantress bit her lip.

Cyborg wrapped his arms around her, something that Raven wouldn't have let anyone do before.

"I guess we don't have to say anything, but Robin is a smart kid and if he doesn't find out I bet no one will." Cyborg said. Raven sighed. She looked around the huge living space they stood in, from the kitchen to the living room, to the entryway and space between.

"Uhh, Cyborg?" Raven said, prying herself from the comfort of his arms. "If they're coming home on Friday, we should clean this place up… Or, _you_ should clean this place up, since you were the one who went postal on the kitchen."

"C'mon, Rae, it's not that bad!" Cyborg cried defensively.

Actually, it was that bad. The living room was a mess, with cushions and throws crumpled and haphazardly tossed, along with the popcorn remains from their movie night. The kitchen was a mess, mostly thanks to Cyborg. The grimy, burned pots and pans that he'd used in his breakfast rampage were soaking in a sudsy sink, which was filled to the brim. A leaning tower of dirty plates and bowls teetered as misplaced silverware threw it off balance.

Raven shot Cyborg an unbelieving look.

"This place is immaculate." She said sarcastically, a bit of a cut in her tone. Cyborg mentally waved away her apparent bad mood. It was all part of Raven. He shrugged innocently. Raven effortlessly used her powers to lift and set the living room straight. As Cyborg stared and the vacuum shut itself off, Raven grabbed a rag sitting by the sink and placed it in his hands.

"Have fun," She said, walking away.

"Hey!" Cyborg yelled indignantly. "You can't just walk away and leave me to clean this mess!"

Raven's voice, smug and satisfied, floated back from where she spoke down the hall as she kept walking.

"I believe I am right now."

Cyborg fumed.

_'Some things never change,'_ He mused resignedly, and laughed out loud as he started cleaning the burned mess he'd made in the kitchen.

In Gotham City, Robin closed his communicator with a snap, slightly confused. Although reassured that his friends were all right, it had surprised him that Cyborg had returned, and it seemed that they were keeping something from him. Still, the cool pool and the warm sunshine urged him to forget his suspicions.

"Robin!" Starfire called, jumping up and down with a glass of lemonade in her hand. "Try this delectable lemon beverage! The sourness is contrasted by the sweetness beautifully!" She turned to Alfred, the butler. "Please, kind sir, tell me the name of this miraculous liquid that causes my taste buds such joy!" She giggled.

"Ah, Miss, that's fresh lemonade," The aged man answered, smiling.

Starfire's emerald eyes widened.

"What an appropriate name for such a thing! The lemons used to create this infusion truly aid me in my need to quench the thirst I have acquired this hot day!"

Robin rolled his eyes and fondly viewed his fellow Titan. He took a glass from the tray Alfred held, and thanked the old man as he left.

He looked from Starfire swooning over lemonade to Beast Boy, who had just made a cannon ball off the diving board whose splash narrowly avoided hitting the three standing on the side. He dropped his communicator and decided to let his uncertainties rest, just this once.

**Author's Note:** Eh, sorry, but it's not like I'm going to go over everything that happened each second of each day. That would kill me, and the reader too, because the Titans don't have as exciting of lives outside of crime fighting as we think they do.

**Review please!**


	6. Friday

**Author's Note:**  For some reason I find it absolutely hilarious that Cyborg loves waffles.  So, every time I write the word 'waffle', I burst out laughing while I write the sentence.  I don't know, call me crazy but I think it's frigging hilarious. Anyway, big fight scene.  Enjoy!

**Chapter 6:**  Friday

            Robin stood at the door of the Wayne mansion with Beast Boy and Starfire, all with luggage in their hands.  Bruce Wayne himself had walked the trio to the door, assuring himself that they did indeed enjoy themselves.

            "Thank you, sir, for inviting us to stay in your beautiful home!"  Starfire said graciously.

            "Yeah, dude, it's been a blast.  Seriously.  Thanks," Beast Boy added.

            "You're welcome any time."  Bruce answered in his deep voice, and said goodbye as Beast Boy and Starfire exited.  Robin came up to him, hand extended.  Bruce shook it, smiling at his former ward.

            "Thanks for visiting, Dick."  Bruce said.

            "It's been fun catching up."  Robin answered.  He grabbed his bag and waved once at Batman, then hurried to join his friends.

            "Oh, friends, we have arrived home!"  Starfire cried out joyously as she, Robin, and Beast Boy entered the Tower.  It was currently empty.  Starfire zoomed around the area, searching for her friends.

            "Friends, friends, where are you?!"  She cried.

            "I'm right here, Starfire."  The magenta-haired enchantress's monotone voice sounded from behind her.  Starfire whirled around and hugged Raven.

            "Starfire… air… becoming… an issue…" Raven managed as Starfire squeezed the breath out of her.  Starfire released her friend, but only because she had found another target.

            "Cyborg!"  She cried, hugging the third male of the Teens.

            "Nice to see you too, Star," Cyborg chuckled, prying the energetic Tameranian off of him. 

"Raven, Cyborg – Have you not missed us?"  She exclaimed. 

The two glanced at each other.

"Yeah, it has been kinda dull without you guys."  Cyborg grinned.

"This is getting too emotional for me."  Raven stated flatly.  Cyborg noted her give him the smallest shade of a wink before sweeping back up to her room.

Beast Boy had thrown his baggage down and was rummaging through the fridge. 

"Hey!"  He shrieked, holding up a plate bearing something suspiciously like sausage.  "Were you slaying pigs while I was gone?!"

Cyborg laughed and shoved Beast Boy.

"And chickens and cows, too.  We ate them with waffles."

Beast Boy fainted.

"So Cyborg, anything new happen while we were away?"  Robin asked conversationally, stepping over Beast Boy and grabbing a Coke from the refrigerator. 

_'Nothing except that Raven and I finally admitted we're in love.'_  Cyborg thought to himself.

"Nothing really, but I did add this really sweet sound system to the T-car."  Was what Cyborg really said aloud, plopping down on the couch next to Robin and snatching the remote.

"Really?"  Robin asked interestedly.  "When can we use it?  Sounds awesome!"

Cyborg shrugged. 

"My baby needs to rest before we take her out on the road."  He answered, to which Robin laughed at grabbed at the remote, successfully retrieving it.

"Hey!"  Cyborg yelled.  "Gimme that!  I stole it fair n' square!"

Robin held up a controller.

"Play ya for it, what'd'ya say?"  He asked, waving the remote in front of Cyborg's face.

"You're on!"  Cyborg exclaimed, but as he reached for the controller to take Robin up on his challenge, the lights flashed red and the images on the screen were brushed off by a map indicating the source of trouble.  Robin stood, transformed instantly from goofing off kid to determined leader.

"It's the Hive.  By the docks.  Titans – GO!"

Jinx twirled around, sprinkling pink sparkles in her wake.  They sputtered and fluttered, diminishing to nothing moments after she had left them.  Gizmo looked up at Jinx, who had started performing a ballet number as he and Mammoth (mostly Mammoth) loaded their ship with stolen weaponry from a nearby barge, whose security they'd eliminated.

"Stop dancing, Jinx, and get over here."  The pint-sized computer genius demanded.  The girl stopped in the middle of a pirouette and glared at the boy, hands on her hips.

"Just try and make me stop."  The saucy sorceress said.  She cried out in shock and anger as a birdarang nicked her arm.

"That's what we're for."  Robin's voice echoed over the three villains.  He held up his hand and caught the returning weapon, wiping a smear of Jinx's blood off the tip.  He leaped down from the top of a building, followed by the rest of the Titans.  "To stop you."

Jinx smirked.

"But the show is just beginning!"  She cried, raising her hands, fingers splayed and palms outward.  A slicing blade of bright pink energy whipped through the air and dug into the ground with surprising ease, right where Robin had stood seconds before.  Unfazed, the pink haired villain struck with rapid-fire bursts of pink energy.  The Titans sprung into action, dodging the bullets of magic as they fired back.  Starfire's eyes glowed green and her hands shimmered with emerald glow.  Gathering her strength, she unleashed her star bolts, showering Mammoth and Jinx with horrible singes and burns.

"AHHH!"  Beast Boy cried as Mammoth shrugged away Starfire's attacks and chucked a heavy crate in his direction.  It hit him with incredible force, knocking him backwards and through the flimsy tin wall of a temporary storehouse. 

"Beast Boy!"  Starfire gasped, zooming from her station in the sky to aid her fallen comrade.  Jinx wasted no time in wiggling her deft fingers and sending pink ribbons through the air to wrap around Starfire.  Screaming as they lashed around her slim figure and closed over her nose and mouth, Starfire plummeted to the ground, eyes wide with fear and losing their green zest as she ran out of air.  Robin caught sight of his teammate as he dodged yet another blow from Mammoth.

"Cyborg!"  Robin yelled hoarsely.  "CATCH HER!"

Realizing Robin wasn't paying attention, Mammoth took his opportunity.  A blow connected with the side of the normally agile teen's face, sending him flying through the air and slamming onto the hard pavement with a thud.  Although Robin's skin and blood muffled the noise, underneath a sickening crack could be heard as the bone snapped.  He cried out in pain, eyes watering, trying to stand.

"I got ya, Star!"  Cyborg called desperately, shaking the foul-mouthed computer geek from his back and running over broken boxes and ripped construction as he raced to catch her.  He jumped onto a crate and launched himself into the air, snatching Starfire from orbit before she landed on the rocky shore that edged the docks.  Her face was purpling, her eyes starting to roll back into her head.  Cyborg ripped away the pink wrappings that covered her face and rendered her arms and legs immobile.  Starfire gasped for air.

"Thank you, Cyborg!"  She wheezed as Cyborg set her down on a wooden crate to catch her breath.

"Thank me later, Star, we've still got trouble."  Cyborg said grimly.  Suddenly, he realized something was missing.  He turned to his friend, who was still recovering.  "Starfire, have you seen Raven?"  He asked with growing dread.

"She told me that she would join our efforts shortly, Cyborg, for her stomach ailed her." Starfire answered.  "But this was back in our home.  I do not know where our friend has gone."

Cyborg felt his heart turn to ice.  Raven... she couldn't be hurt, could she?

"Raven?"  He yelled, scanning the skies.  "RAVEN!"

"Worry about her later, Cyborg," Robin said, wincing horribly as he come up behind his friend with a revived Beast Boy in tow and holding his limp left arm to his side.  "She can take care of herself for now, but I need your help."

"It's not so easy to defeat us, now is it?"  Jinx addressed them smugly, causing the Titans to jump in surprise.  The HIVE stood importantly, as if posing for a photo shoot.  Robin's eyes narrowed.

"We're not through with you yet," Robin said firmly.  In a swift movement he pulled the retractable Bo staff from his belt with his right hand, twirling it around his fingers.  "Let's do this."

"HAARRAHHA!"  Mammoth roared, lifting everything heavy near him and hurling them at the advancing Teen Titans.  Beast Boy charged at the overlarge man in a rhinoceros shape, tackling the giant with everything he had.  Jinx met Starfire head on as the two super-powered girls attacked, each matching the other's advances blow-by-blow, green against pink.  Cyborg and Gizmo fought a different kind of miniature battle inside the general fight.  More than just good against evil, their rivalry was something personal as they yelled foul insults at each other, battling with brains (and tech) as well as brawn.  Robin flitted like his namesake from scene to scene as best he could with his broken limb, slowly wearing down the opposition with his lightning quick attack and withdrawals. 

            "Can't you think of anything _else_ to do except climb on my back like some little kid?"  Cyborg groaned in irritation as he threw Gizmo off his back a third time. 

            "Shut up, barf brain!"  Gizmo responded, blowing a raspberry at Cyborg.  "And don't explode too messily, crud muncher!"  He cackled, sprinting away.

            "What?!"  Cyborg yelped, feeling around on his back.  A small device beeped rhythmically, counting down.  His eyes widened.  "Ooh no.  Ooooh no." 

            "Azarath.  Metrion.  Zinthos!"  A familiar voice cut in.  Glowing black light flew from Raven's hands, disabling the ticking bomb stuck to Cyborg's back.

            "Whew."  Cyborg breathed, wiping sweat off his forehead.  Relief filled him and he beamed up at the sky where Raven levitated.  Furious muttering could be heard and a sharp "OUCH" as Gizmo kicked a hard crate and injured his foot.  Cyborg kicked a box aside to reveal a pained Gizmo, holding his foot and screaming nonsensical curse words.  Cyborg smirked and grabbed him.

            Raven hovered in the sky, holding her stomach and feeling sick again.  Nevertheless, she summoned her powers, covering the two remaining members of the Hive in darkness and suspending them in the air, where they hung, furious but too worn out from fighting to break free. 

            Raven floated to the ground.  She saw Robin grimacing, his skin a pale gray as his injury pained him, and immediately shoved her hands over his broken arm, administering her healing abilities to the break.  Robin gingerly moved his newly restored appendage. 

            "Thanks," He smiled.  She nodded.

            "Raven!"  Cyborg cried, throwing Gizmo into the dark mass that entwined around Jinx and Mammoth.  "Where've you been?"

            "Yes, friend!"  Starfire said, gathering near with Beast Boy.  "What ailed you so that you were unable to assist us in this battle where you were sorely needed?"

            "Ugh."  She said sickly, sitting down.  "Felt bad."

            "Yeah," Beast Boy joked, leaning close to inspect her.  "Not everyone can pull off green like me, but you seem to be doing it fine today."

            "Mmf!"  Raven said, slapping a hand to her mouth and running away from her friends to vomit over the pier.  She returned minutes later, still green in the face and holding her stomach.  "Queasy."  She mumbled.

            "Whoa," Robin stated, holding out a hand to steady his friend.  "Take it easy there, Raven.  I've never seen you get sick before."

            "Yeah, Rae, are you gonna be okay?"  Cyborg asked anxiously, supporting her as her knees buckled.  Starfire bit her fingernails and gazed anxiously at her friend, almost as anxiously as Cyborg.

            "Uhhh," She moaned, leaning against Cyborg.  "Could you… could you carry me back?"  She asked him weakly.  In response, he scooped her up effortlessly, and she wrapped her arms limply around his neck to support herself, resting her head against his broad shoulder and sighing.  The three other Titans stared to see Raven so open to another Titan, looking questioningly from Cyborg to the girl in his arms.  He merely grinned sheepishly, a blush coloring his face.

            _'Something's up.'_  Robin thought as the Titans made the way back to Titans Tower.  He looked at Raven, who had drifted into a disturbed sleep, relaxed but paler than usual in Cyborg's arms.  Cyborg occasionally looked down at her, genuinely concerned for the young woman he held.  A thought crossed Robin's mind, causing him to widen his masked eyes in surprise, but he shook it away. 

_'Best not jump to conclusions.' _  Thought the young leader, and he walked ahead of his teammates, eager to sleep off the battle in his own bed.

**Author's Note:**  Review please!  Long reviews are loved, but any review is still appreciated. 


	7. Illness

**Author's Note:** No negative feedback on my fic as of yet! I must be doing something right. Thank you so, so much for everyone who reviewed and praised my story so much! It means a lot to me and is one of the reasons I continue to write.

**Disclaimer:** I forgot to put a disclaimer in Chapter 1 (stupid me), so here I am, declaring that nothing you recognize as belonging to the makers of Teen Titans is mine. Only the plot and my dreams are. :-)

**Chapter 7:** Illness

"Ugh," Raven moaned. She pried her eyes open, seeing the concerned faces of her friends swim into view. Just before, Cyborg had removed the sleeping Raven's arms from around his neck and gently set her on the horseshoe couch. The Titans were gathered near, glancing anxiously at Raven. The enchantress crunched her eyes closed as the pain in her stomach returned, and now she had a headache to boot.

"Something's wrong with her," Robin stated seriously. "She's never been sick before."

"What if our friend has come down with some fatal virus such as the Gordanian Mush Bunkleris!" Starfire cried out in anguish. "We must save her, friends!"

Beast Boy scoffed.

"We might have to operate on her!" He joked, turning into a swordfish and gesturing with the animal's long beak as Starfire shrieked in dismay. Cyborg glared daggers and Robin gave them a look that clearly resembled an annoyed mother breaking up horseplay between her rowdy children. Starfire stopped shrieking and Beast Boy returned to his normal shape, both of them grinning apologetically.

"You guys," Raven said weakly. "You do realize I'm right here, right?"

Robin leaned closer to Raven, only to recoil as she coughed violently. Cyborg was at her side in an instant. He gaped along with the Titans, horrified, when Raven's hand left her mouth covered in blood. As the coughing subsided, Robin addressed her.

"Rae, we need to know what's wrong with you." The leader said quietly. The girl turned her violet eyes on him.

"I never get sick. I'm too controlled for that." She answered resolutely, but her voice quavered.

"I know," Robin said patiently. "But you're sick now, don't deny it. What can we do to make you better?"

Raven screwed her eyes shut as a wave of pain washed through her. She grabbed Cyborg's hand and squeezed it. His worry increased and he moved closer to her. The microwave exploded, sparking and belching smoke and lighting a roll of paper towels on fire. Beast Boy ran over to quell the flame and the other Titans bit their lips nervously, unsure what to do, as Raven held back from crying out. Starfire edged closer to her ill companion, clearly anguished.

"What ails you, friend Raven?" She asked quietly.

Raven groaned and opened her eyes. She tried to pull herself up but Cyborg, who was sitting next to her on the couch, gently pushed her back down. She sighed and weakly scooted over to him, blatantly ignoring the slight shock on everyone's face as she leaned against Cyborg trustingly. He wrapped his arm around her in support; he was blind to the looks he received and he thought only to comfort her.

"I don't know, Star," She said hoarsely. "I haven't done anything or felt any differ –" Her eyes widened and she looked at Cyborg. The other Titans noticed the exchange and Beast Boy stood up.

"What's going on between you two, anyway?" He demanded. "You've been acting all lovey-dovey all of a sudden."

Raven and Cyborg turned red. Starfire made a little noise of happiness without waiting for verbal confirmation.

"Two of my friends have found love! And with each other!" She sang, dancing around in her own little world of hearts and pink swirls. She paused. "A sweet, though I must admit unexpected, love." She beamed happily, clasping her hands together.

"Oh! Oh!" She said, suddenly remembering. "Now I must sing to you the seven hundred and twenty three verses of the Ballad for Young Lovers!"

Raven held up a hand weakly.

"Please, Star… I don't feel well… You'll give me a headache."

But Robin and Beast Boy were smirking at Cyborg. Beast Boy nudged him in the ribs.

"Soooo, Cy," He said slyly. "How far did you get? First base, second, third? Maybe even… home run?" He joked, waggling his eyebrows at Cyborg. Beast Boy was enjoying the total humiliation he was putting his friend through. The Titans seemed to have momentarily forgotten Raven's illness in light of a situation that called for incessant teasing.

_'Man, how immature are we?'_ Robin thought, smirking.

"Robin," Starfire began innocently, poking her index fingers together. "I do no know much of Earth games, but will you please explain to me the concept of the symbolism between Cyborg and Raven's romantic interactions and the game of 'baseball'?"

Robin fell over.

Beast Boy was about to crack another joke when Raven broke into another coughing fit. The light atmosphere vanished without a trace as Raven doubled over where she lay, coughing thick red liquid into her palm while the others hovered near, desperately wanting to help but not quite knowing how. Tears streamed down Starfire's cheeks as she watched Raven's body rack with each retch. When she finally stilled, her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell into Cyborg, who held her safe while she slept fitfully. A moment's silence passed.

"This is too serious." Robin said, his voice echoing as the silence broke. "We need bigger medical help."

"For real," Beast Boy said numbly, still stunned to see the impenetrable enchantress helplessly ill. "She's puking, coughing blood _and _having weird pains. Can't be good no matter what you are."

But before anyone could respond, Raven gasped, arching her back in pain. She went rigid, releasing Cyborg's hand and jerkily lifting upright into the air, her body suspended vertically but her head sagging lifelessly on her shoulders. Starfire screamed and grabbed onto Robin as Raven's head snapped up, revealing red and fiery eyes. Magic crackled around her and she raised her hands into the air, blue cloak billowing around her.

Robin stood swiftly, pulling his staff from his belt and standing ready to fight, but Cyborg held out a hand.

"No!" He said, strangely calm. "It's not Raven."

Robin looked uncertainly at his friend, straightening.

"How can you tell?"

"I just know. Don't attack her."

"Dude, are you insane?!" Beast Boy interjected, gesturing wildly at the suspended Raven. "She'll kill us, just look at her!"

"Friends?" Starfire called nervously. "Friends, I require your assistance..."

The boys spun around. Raven was truly demented, ensnaring anything in her path with her powers, suffocating the light with the darkness she possessed. Advancing on Starfire, she opened her mouth to chant the incantation when Robin pushed her out of the way with a flying kick that struck her rib cage. Raven yelled as she banged into the wall, her back connecting first and her head slamming against it in suit. She slid to the ground and shook her head violently, as if trying to clear something from her mind. Cyborg glared daggers at Robin, who had helped Starfire up, and ran to Raven's side. Holding her waist he lifted her gently and she stood, grasping his forearm and wheezing. Her eyes had returned to normal but her face contorted with pain. A window shattered, pushing glass out to the mercy of gravity, which pulled them down to the sharp rocks below.

Cyborg helped Raven over to the unburned portion of the horseshoe couch.

"What is it, where does it hurt?" He asked anxiously.

Raven coughed once and the Titans tensed.

"It's okay, it's okay," She said, pain harsh in her voice. "But he has me. You _have_ to get me away from you or who knows who he might hurt if he possesses me again."

"Who has you?" Robin asked urgently. "Does Slade have something to do with this?!"

Beast Boy made a noise of agitation.

"Does everything you think about connect with Slade?" He asked impatiently. Robin shot the changeling a dirty look.

"My father," Raven said shortly. "Trigon."

Cyborg and Beast Boy nodded in recognition, but Starfire and Robin were perplexed.

"Who is this Trigon of whom you speak, Raven?" Starfire inquired.

Cyborg answered for her.

"It's her father's name, Star. He's the son of the devil. Raven is the devil's granddaughter."

Starfire brought her hands to her mouth in shock.

"Yeah… it's like that." Beast Boy laughed humorlessly.

Robin raised an eyebrow behind his masked eyes.

"So, what do we have to do to get Trigon out of you?"

Raven shuddered and tried unsuccessfully to hold back a small cry of pain, clutching at her stomach. A second window exploded outward.

"You can't. Get me away from you now. It's the only way no one will be hurt."

Robin looked at Raven like she was crazy.

"No one except you." He said.

There was silence. Then, –

"Everyone just go. I'll be better in the morning. Go."

"But – " Starfire began.

"I said go!" Raven said ferociously, sounding more like the Raven that they knew. The Titans filed out slowly, looking back at her with worry etched into their faces. Only Cyborg remained. She didn't seem to notice his presence until she looked up at him and sighed. He picked her up and she hesitantly relaxed in his arms, letting him carry her to her room.

Without words he set her on her bed and made sure she was underneath the blue velvet of the comforter and the cool silk of the sheets. Raven laid her head on the pillow and grimaced as pain hit her stomach again. Cyborg sat down on the mattress next to where his love lay, and he leaned over and kissed her. She weakly kissed him back, not for lack of passion but lack of strength. The illness was hitting her harshly; it was sucking away what little liveliness she could afford to show the world.

**Author's Note:** End of chapter 7! Please review! Also, I might be changing the title of this fanfic soon, just so you won't be surprised if I do. Ciao!


	8. Doctor

**Important: I have changed the title to A Deeper Kind of Sickness due to inva-telkontar's note that it was incredibly similar to the title of her own story. **

**Author's Note:** Thank you sincerely to every single reader who has reviewed this story. Dona and Dr. Phillip J. Salus are both my characters that I made up.

**Chapter 8: **Doctor

12 years ago, Dorcha Temple, Azarath.

_ The night sky was darker than any that had passed before on Azarath. The white and golden sparks of light that marked the far off stars were covered by clouds almost as dark as the sky the drifted in, only shadows on the shadow that stretched over the planet at the absence of day. Silence wasn't uncommon on Azarath, but the silence in this night pressed closer than any silence before. The feeling was ominous. It surrounded the inhabitants of the globe with an urgent nudge that told them all, even the inexperienced in meditation and spiritual realms and those who weren't the mediums they were born to be, that something was happening._

_ In the hidden room deep inside the doors of a large meditation temple, two women floated above the floor. One was slender and pale, with silky purple hair that was cut short, ending at her chin and framing her thin face. The second was also pale, but not as slender. Unlike her sister's, her hair was as black as the night outside, and it swept low to the small of her back, rustling with invisible breeze. Palms pressed together, they chanted in unison with their eyes closed._

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos. Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos."

_ A small girl with hair as violet as her mother's quietly peaked her head into the room, gripping the doorframe with her small white fingers. She went unnoticed by the two women._

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos."__

_ The wind in the room picked up, tangling the locks of the women as they chanted. The black haired woman suddenly cried out, ripping her palms away and glowing in black energy. Her sister's eyes snapped open and she grabbed a glass sphere that had been sitting on the floor, snapping it in half and holding the two empty pieces in the air in front of the glowing woman. _

"Only child with darkened powers,

Only child from Azarath made,

Though condemned with burdens,

Only she through Hell may wade.

Fight against the current, demon child!

Though it pull at thou thawing heart;

For shalt He destroy the son you bring,

Who was begot from new love true,

Your child to pull his reign apart,

The hope for future shall end at you –

Thy love, thy life, thy world are through."

_ Her words smoothly left her open mouth, gliding in and out of the air and liquefying. Her companion positioned the broken sphere, catching each drop of stunning white fluid. She carefully aligned the jagged edges of the broken orb, muttered a word and watching as they melted together again seamlessly, capturing the pearly prophecy securely. _

_ "Dona, are you alright?" She asked her sister, who had fallen from her levitated place and was rubbing her temples with two fingers._

_ "Yes, sister, yes." She said slowly. She stood. "I only fear for the girl in the prophecy. Sister, I believe I know who she is." A knowing look came over her face._

_ Dona's sister shook her head violently, her purple hair ruffling._

_ "No, Dona, no._ _ It is not her! I cannot be!" She protested. Dona only smiled sadly and looked toward the door, where the tiny face still stared, transfixed, at her mother and aunt. The little girl gasped when she realized her aunt had spotted her, and scampered away, soft footprints making dull thuds on the temple floor._

Present 

After a day of silently enduring Raven's requests for solitude (she had said she needed to regain control of her mind alone), her friends couldn't bear to let her suffer and, disregarding Raven's request, the Teen Titans had called in a doctor. Starfire energetically ushered the tall man and his black leather bag into their living room when he arrived. He stood only a few inches taller than Cyborg, thin and a bit gangly with a crown of graying hair around the bald spot developing in the back of his head. His nose was straight and long and the color of his eyes gave one the impression of thoroughly scrubbed steel. He wore a somber business suit in a dark stone hue, covered by a sterile white medical coat that hung loosely around his lanky figure and reaching just above the back of his knees. Pinned to it was a shining golden nameplate that read, "Doctor Phillip J. Salus, Jr." His black shoes were polished and not a speck of dirt could be seen on them, and his clothes and skin were equally immaculate, cleaner than it seemed humanly possible to be. It might have been his sheer height, but he gave off a presence of importance and authority that commanded respect.

"Where's the patient?" He asked. His voice wasn't a low and deep one or high one but somewhere in the middle, with a strangely reassuring resonance to it that none of them had heard before.

"Up the stairs and to the right." Cyborg answered, leading the way. When they arrived the door slid open automatically and Doctor Salus entered without delay, followed by the apprehensive Teen Titans.

On the bed, tossing and turning, was Raven. The enchantress's skin was gray and covered with a thin sheen of sweat, and her eyes were closed against the pain in her stomach. She was muttering unintelligible words in her uneasy sleep. The doctor pulled the chair from underneath the desk nearby close to the bed. He gently tapped Raven's shoulder, and she groaned and opened her eyes. She stared for a second, then her weary features turned to furious.

"You called a doctor?!" She said, her fury barely disguised by the façade of calmness she was trying to maintain. The mirror that hung above her dresser shattered.

"Raven, we had to!" Robin exclaimed. "You're sicker than you think you are and we don't know what to do."

"Yes, we only acted against our vow for fear of your health and wellness." Starfire explained quietly, but Raven wouldn't hear it.

"I told you I was fine! Why don't you listen to me?!" She said icily, sitting up a bit too fast. She cried out as the quick movement startled her already aching head and she fell back onto the pillows painfully. Cyborg made a move to go to her side but Salus waved him away with a hand. Cyborg settled for hovering at the foot of the bed with the other Titans, unhappy but dealing with it.

"Now, Miss Raven… Let's see what's wrong with you, shall we?" The doctor asked, and the tension in the room came down a notch with the heartening sound of his voice.

Raven huffily sat back against the birdlike headboard of her bed, glaring at her friends, who penitently stood in the background. Doctor Salus reached down and retrieved his leather bag, setting it methodically down onto the bedspread and unzipping it. He pulled from it a stethoscope and various other medical appliances covered in sterile wrappings and hygienic cloths. He looked up.

"Could you leave the patient with me, please?" He asked politely, but the tone of his voice assured them that they didn't have a choice. They left the room and waited silently in the living room, halfheartedly reading or staring into space. The doctor turned back to his patient. She glared at him, but the effect was lost due to her tired, sickly appearance.

"I know what is wrong with me. Leave." She demanded.

Phillip J. Salus didn't budge. He patiently smiled.

"Then tell me why you're so ill, if you already know." He said. She scowled. Suddenly, she rolled onto her side and broke into a fit of coughing. The physician reached into his black leather bag and retrieved a tiny bottle of clear liquid. He poured half of its contents into a small cup, and held it out between his index finger and thumb to Raven when she had stopped coughing. The shaky girl eyed him suspiciously but downed the liquid, sighing in surprise and relief as it washed down her throat, miraculously soothing her esophagus.

"I've never known any medicine like this," She said, still not quite trusting him.

"You've never known any doctor quite like me." He responded evasively. He changed the subject. "But tell me what's wrong with you, if you're so sure."

Uncertain, Raven took a moment to consider before folding. She was too fatigued to argue much in her head.

"Uhh, I supposed you can be trusted… My father is the son of the devil." She said flatly, to which Salus raised his eyebrows. "No, no," She recovered. "I mean, literally. As in, I'm the granddaughter of the devil."

"Really…" The doctor murmured.

"And anyway, he's always inside me trying to take over as the form of rage, but that is partly why I meditate, to keep rage at bay."

"And…?" Salus prompted.

"I'm getting there!" She bit frostily. "And now, I've gotten sick because he decided this was the time to try and overpower me, and it's even worse because I'm pregn –" Raven clapped a hand over her mouth.

"You are?" Doctor Salus was thoroughly shocked. This girl was only just seventeen, not even an adult! She was merely a child.

Raven sighed. Stupid fever; she was giving away information no one needed to know.

_'Except Cyborg…'_ She thought guiltily.

Doctor Salus tried to divulge more information from the ill teen, but after her brief spell of talkativeness she had lapsed back into pain and sickness. He checked her temperature and other medical measurements, administering medicines that were designed to diminish pain. After a few minutes, he stood, wished her well, and exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

Back in the front of the Tower, the Titans heard the telltale swish that signaled the opening of a door. The four jumped up and raced to Raven's room, Starfire in the lead.

"OOF!" Four voices yelled one after another as Cyborg fell over Robin, who fell over Beast Boy, who fell over Starfire as she halted unexpectedly and was knocked over as Beast Boy ran into her. The doctor stood outside of Raven's door with an amused smile on his face as he watched the teens try to untangle themselves from the pileup. As soon as he was free, Cyborg jumped to question the man of medicine.

"How is she? What's wrong with her? Is she okay? What's happening? Tell me!" He cried.

The doctor's amused expression turned grave.

"I've talked with her and examined her state of illness, and there's not all that much that can be done."

The faces of the Titans fell.

"But," Salus continued. "When I spoke with her she revealed that she is battling her father. He wants control of her once and for all, but that's not the only reason she's been sick."

"What's the other reason?" Robin asked.

"She probably does not wish for me to tell you, but your friend is with child."

The jaws of everyone in the room dropped. Slowly, all eyes turned to Cyborg, who stared in shock and disbelief at the doctor.

"Wait," Doctor Salus warned. "There's more. I believe that the original morning sickness and vulnerability she began to feel at first showed her father that she would be easily taken over, and whatever influence he has over her body has caused adverse biological effects, causing her to be gravely, gravely ill as a result. If she doesn't recover soon, there's no telling whether she or the unborn child will recover at all."

There was silence. Then Beast Boy spoke.

"So Raven… is pregnant… and she's going to die?" He asked.

**Author's Note:** I was worried about this chapter, only because it seems to be one of the defining ones that really make or break the story.

If you didn't catch it, and thought I just made them up, here's something:

**Dr. Phillip J. Salus:** In Latin the word 'salus' means help or assistance

**Dorcha Temple:** In Gaelic the word 'dorcha' means dark

**Dona:** In Gaelic the word 'dona' means bad or unlucky

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	9. Azarath

**Author's Note:** I received reviews asking to elaborate on the little blip of the past that I put in the last chapter and also saying that it was confusing. It dealed with Raven's mother and aunt, and her aunt told a prophecy. I, personally, thought it was prophesied pretty clearly, but who knows. I'll let the reader try to decipher it if it's that hard.** :-)** This entire chapter is basically set in various stages in the past and on Azarath, and I'm not going to bother using italics but it may confuse you. Sorry if it does! But let me warn you… I know like nothing about the Raven from the comics, so don't spazz if I get something "wrong". Alright… on we go. ** :-)**

Oh, and **Guardian Hunter**, thanks for the advice. Great idea. ** :-)**

**Chapter 9:** Azarath

After Prophecy Scene

_"No, Dona, no. It is not her! I cannot be!" She protested. Dona only smiled sadly and looked toward the door, where the tiny face still stared, transfixed, at her mother and aunt. The little girl gasped when she realized her aunt had spotted her, and scampered away, soft footprints making dull thuds on the temple floor._

Dona looked to her sister.

"Arella, you know that there is nothing I can do. The powers at work merely use me as their outlet, their voice, to give the ignorant tastes of wisdom in the form of things to come." She sighed. She sat cross-legged on the smooth wooden floor and gestured theatrically as she spoke to the tall-beamed ceilings.

Arella scowled at her and shook her head violently; her short purple locks ruffled though they came only just past her chin.

"Sister, you are gifted with the Sight. You know of many things that we others could not dream of. But please tell me, Dona, please, that this is not my daughter."

Dona looked away.

"She will have enough hardship in her life as it is! Why must she deal with yet another?" Arella cried, moving to stand in her agitation before breathing deeply and forcing herself to relax.

"I am merely the outlet. I am merely the voice. I cannot change it and I do not try." Dona said softly.

"But my child!" Arella proclaimed, but she knew it was hopeless and her voice lacked its former faith.

Dona sighed and stood. She smoothed the creases in her black silk robe, fixing the Chakra jewel that glinted emerald at her neck and running her hands through her thick mane of ebony tresses. She held out a hand to help her sister up, but Arella ignored it and got up on her own, mimicking her sister's actions of straightening her robe and jewel, both of which were a deep turquoise hue.

Dona reached down and picked up the prophecy. She held the orb up in the dim orange glow of the room and watched the light reflect off its pearly contents. The liquid lapped at the inside of the glass ball gently.

"Arella," Dona began, holding out the prophecy. "There are three main types of prophecies in divination. _Oraculum Tres Tria_." She stopped, and Arella quietly motioned for her to continue.

"All prophecies are classified by a color. This is no exception for the Three Oracles. The first is _Malum_, or Evil and Misfortune, and covets its own deep red hue. It foretells horrible futures; deaths of millions, ruined planets, and even, strangely, heartache. The second is _Tripudium_, or Joy and Rejoicing. The futures it describes are ones of great happiness and love, embraced by the color blue, the more vibrant the more joyous. Third is the most rare, called _Vicissitudo_." She paused meaningfully.

"Alteration," Arella whispered, her brown eyes full of dread. "Change."

"Yes." Dona said grimly. She held out her prediction, which gleamed rainbow colors as its pearly fluid reflected the glow from nearby candles. Inside the glass, the liquid seemed to glow on its own, luminous in subtle ways that required a second look to notice. "The Revolutionary foretelling. Something historic, epic, incredible, will take place. But this is a variety with more than one meaning_. Malum_ and _Tripudium_ are simple. _Vicissitudo_ comes with great promises and great tragedies. It is uncertain what may be lost in the effort to make such a grand future come to pass. Places, worlds, lives…"

Arella sucked in a breath. Dona held up a hand to quell anything her sister had to say and continued.

"Arella, do not despair. If your daughter is indeed the child in the prophecy, she must undergo good and bad. But this child is the hope, and her child is the hope, and with hope comes brighter things."

She placed her hand on her sister's forearm reassuringly, then stepped back, holding the prophecy delicately.

"Now," She said as the two walked toward the exit. "I must deliver these words to the _Oraculum_ building. Do you wish to accompany me?"

Arella shook her head.

"No, thank you, Dona," She answered. "I must find my daughter. I will not reveal your prophecy to her, but I can't allow her to run around Dorcha Temple alone. See you soon."

Dona and Arella parted ways, turning down different corridors of Dorcha Temple. Arella walked down the darkened mahogany hallways. The walls were adorned simply with earthen relics. Candles hung upon the wall flickered brightly next to burning incense. The calming herbal aromas soothed her as she walked. She peeked into each room she passed, viewing meditating Azarathians but not her violet-eyed child. She had just turned onto another hallway when she bumped into the very person she had been searching for.

"Raven!" She cried, kneeling next to her five year old and embracing the girl. "I was starting to worry."

"Sorry, Mother," The young Raven mumbled. Her long purple locks swept in front of her matching eyes as she looked down.

Arella laughed and scooped her up.

"No need to apologize, child." She said. Her laugh was like a chime, subdued but sweet, with a tinkling resonance. Little did she know, her daughter had inherited her beautiful laugh.

Raven smiled.

"Excuse me," Came a voice from behind them. Arella turned, still holding Raven in her arms. A tall, handsome man with dark brown hair stood there. His eyes were a curious gray color, giving one the impression of thoroughly scrubbed steel, and his robe, a gray a few shades darker than his eyes, was perfectly clean and crease free. He smiled. "Miss Arella Roth?" He asked.

"Yes," She said, startled. Then her face lit up with recognition.

"Salus!" She cried. She set her daughter down and embraced her friend. "I haven't seen you in so long! And how is your medical research progressing? Last time we spoke was years ago and you told me of your hopes in this 'miracle medicine'."

Salus grinned, showing a row of white teeth.

"You remembered! Yes, I've finally made a break through. The meditation and calming rituals I've learned in Dorcha Temple and the city have helped me clear my mind."

"Ah, those things are Azarath's pride. We Azarathians have perfected the art."

The two friends caught up on old times as they walked down the hallway together. Little Raven reached up tentatively and touched her mother's hand with her small one. Arella looked down, surprised.

"Ah, Raven. Let me introduce you to my great friend, Salus." She said, and she and Salus kneeled next to Raven.

"Hello, little one." He said kindly, holding out his hand. Raven ducked behind Arella. Salus's smile faded. Arella noticed and grinned reassurance at him.

"She's never been one to trust openly." Arella admitted sadly. She turned to her child. "Raven, go run to the Child's Room and play with the other children, will you?"

Raven looked up silently and nodded, heading the other way.

Salus and Arella watched her go.

"She seems very withdrawn, Arella." Salus said. "Is something wrong with her?"

"No… I do not think so. But I must tell you something."

Arella led her old friend into an empty room nearby. It was sparsely with flickering candles and burning incense. The hardwood floors and walls in the spacious area glowed with the golden light from the candles that bounced from surface to surface. Littered on the floor were about half a dozen large, pale green cushions, each dusted with a clear powder that kept them clean and fresh, always ready for meditation and peaceful reflection. Long windows built at the top of the room gave a view of the half-light that was Azarathian day. Arella slid the door shut behind them and then took seats on the jade cushions. She waited a moment and sighed again.

"Salus," She said sincerely. "You and I were great friends long ago. Although we have not seen each other for many years, you were with me even when Raven was born, and through the trauma that passed when Trigon nearly destroyed my mind and my body. I trust you. So I will tell you.

"This morning my sister – remember her? Dona, who has the Sight – told another prophecy. It speaks of a demon child who can break into Hell, and only she and her son – or was it only her son? I cannot recall – can defeat something. Dona believes that this demon child is my Raven, and I fear that the connection with Hell must only mean her father. I do not know what to do, Salus! I cannot let my child die, or have such a horrible future."

Arella sobbed into Salus' shoulder, and he patted her on the back, trying to sooth her.

"Arella, predictions don't always come into play! Prophets have been wrong before, and Dona may be wrong today."

Arella drew away from her friend, wiping her tears and returning to her seat on the green cushion. She breathed deeply the incense, trying to calm her troubled spirit.

"No, Salus." She said reluctantly. "Dona has never been wrong. And this prophecy was _Vicissitudo._"

Salus frowned.

"Arella, I have an idea." He said, and smiled, though his smile was grim. "I have often planned to journey to more than just Azarath and Tameran. Where you daughter ventures I will follow, and take up my medical endevours in foreign worlds, and when she needs help I will be there to help her."

Arella's brown eyes widened.

"Salus, but your career, your life! You would sacrifice other opportunities to care for my daughter's health?"

Salus nodded.

"A friend must do what a friend must do, sister." He grinned.

Arella embraced him.

"And brother, though we be not related in blood, we shall be forever related in spirit."

**Author's Note:** I enjoyed making that chapter. ** :-)**

I read in another fanfiction that Raven's last name was Roth, and so I used that. Sorry to whoever it was, but I couldn't remember who. If you don't want me to use it, I'll go ahead and take it out.

The names of the prophecies were all Latin, just so you know. ** :-)**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	10. Stains

**Author's Note:** Thanks for any compliments; I was hesitant about writing it because of my ignorance of anything but the general details of Raven's background. Thanks go to **blackshield**, who cleared up the whole 'Roth' thing. Also, **SpiderSquirrel**, I'm sorry that the pregnancy factor made you uncomfortable, but this is a PG-13 fanfiction and that type of character situation can occur. Please continue to read, but I'll understand if you decline.

**Chapter 10:** Stains

_My heart is weighted  
with the pain of many ages.  
My heart is tied  
with the chains of many times.  
And the tears of past  
and present,  
and future,  
are stains upon  
my broken heart._

_"Stains"_ Raven Roth

The tall door that marked the exit and entry of Titans Tower shut with an audible clang. Doctor Phillip J. Salus, Jr., had just left after shedding the unwelcome news of Raven's pregnancy and mental and biological decline upon her roommates. The four were in a state of shock. And for Cyborg, extreme distress, shock, and embarrassment. For some reason, it seemed as though Cyborg was the only one at fault for the pregnancy.

"Dude," Beast Boy said as the four Titans, still numb, sat down in the living room. "I was joking about that whole home run thing…"

"Not helping, Beast Boy." Robin said shortly.

"We must look on the bright side. The bringing of new life into the world is a joyous event, and should be celebrated with sugar candies and dancing." Starfire said in a halfhearted attempt to make her friends feel better.

Cyborg sighed. The Titans looked over at him.

"Want to… um… talk about it, Cy?" Robin asked awkwardly.

"I'm so stupid!" He exclaimed with sudden fury, surprising the others as he jumped up and paced ferociously. "It's my fault she's going through all this, all my fault! I could have done something. I could have stopped it!"

He punched the wall with force. His fist left a dent.

"Cyborg, whoa!" Robin said in alarm.

"Dude, take it easy." Beast Boy said, backing away.

Robin got up and led Cyborg to the horseshoe couch. Cyborg didn't complain but numbly allowed himself to be pushed back into his seat.

"It's alright, man, Raven will get over the sickness or whatever and she'll be fine, and your kid will be fine." Beast Boy continued, obviously trying to be of some help.

"My kid…" Cyborg whispered, looking down.

Robin stood and put a hand on his friend's metallic shoulder.

"We're going to try as hard as we can to save Raven." Robin said quietly. "She'll pull through this and everything will be fine with her and the baby."

"The baby…" Cyborg whispered, still looking down.

"Yeah." Beast Boy said. "I'm kind of weirded out too."

"Not helping, Beast Boy." Robin said again.

"Cyborg, on my planet the reproductive act is not commonly made unless for practical purposes, but I have been informed that it is quite common when in love to perform the procedures. I do not hold grudges or bad feelings against you for impregnating my only other female friend." Starfire interjected innocently, a happy smile on her face.

"Uhh, thanks, Star. I think." He returned, face turning red. There was a moment's silence, then –

"I'm going to go see her."

Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy did nothing to stop Cyborg from getting up, and the oldest Titan walked slowly down the halls to Raven's room. After he left, the trio sat, unsure what to do and how to do it. Beast Boy's stomach growled and he blushed as Starfire and Robin looked at him.

"Uhh… I'm gonna go cook me some tofu burgers… Do you guys want some?"

Robin glared and Starfire shook her head, and Beast Boy hesitantly left the living room and bounded into the kitchen, rummaging through the refridgerator for tofu, yelling about ten minutes later as something exploded in front of him.

"Let's go to the roof, Star. I can't think here." Robin said, grabbing her hand and leading her up to the top of Titans Tower. The two sat together at the edge, Starfire mimicking Robin's position of sitting with his arms across his knees and his head resting on his arms. The sun was just setting, covering the scene with orange, cherry, and pink hues. Far below, the quiet waters lapped soothingly at the jagged rocks, sending little sprays of salty water as they collided. The sea before them quivered as the sweet breezes blew across them and up into the air, ruffling the hair of two Titans as they sat.

"Robin, what will become of us?" She asked quietly. She didn't look at her best friend but merely stared out across the shimmering ocean and into the flaring orb that was slowly inching itself out of the day.

Robin exhaled audibly.

"Starfire, I wish I knew…"

"Do you believe that Cyborg and Raven had planned to add to the human race?" She asked with genuine innocence.

"Um, no, Star, I think that was an accident." Robin sweat dropped.

"Oh." Said the Tameranian.

The two sat together in companionable silence, staring out over the city they had sworn to protect and at the diminishing sun, who seemed to be trying extra hard to give all it's cheeriness to them before letting the night and moon have its way with their world. Robin found himself idly wondering if it knew they would need it.

"Starfire, what will you do if the Titans ever are defeated?" Robin asked finally.

Starfire stared at her best friend. Robin never had any doubts about the solidity of the Teen Titans; and if he did, it was his job as their leader not to reveal them.

"I… I do not know, Robin. I can only hope that our team is not destroyed in our near future."

He stared ahead.

"I don't really know what I would do without you guys. Especially you."

Starfire looked at him questioningly.

"I mean, you're my best friend, Star. I've said before that no one can replace you, and I meant it." He recovered, smiling at her.

Starfire smiled back at Robin, her emerald eyes glowing.

"Thank you, Robin."

She was about to say more when a roar shook the very foundation of the Tower. Robin was up with what seemed like inhuman speed, speeding down from the roof with Starfire just behind. He skidded into the kitchen, where Beast Boy was dropping a half-eaten tofu burger onto a plate and standing up.

"What happened?" Robin demanded fiercely.

"Dude!" Beast Boy said defensively, pushing Robin away from him. "I know as much as you do!"

"RAVEN!" Cyborg bellowed in the distance. "FORCE HIM OUT, RAE!!"

The Titans looked at each other once and ran in the direction of Raven's room.

**! ! ! !**

Cyborg paused in front of her door, hesitating for a moment, then knocked.

"Cy?" Raven's voice was shaky. "Cyborg, is that you?"

The door slid open to admit him and he hurried in, hearing it swoosh shut behind him and connect smoothly with the metal doorframe as it closed. He sat in Salus' previous chair and held Raven's pale hand in his. He leaned toward her.

"Rae?" He whispered quietly. "I'm here, Rae, I'm here."

The teenager sprawled on the bed looked deathly sick. She was without her customary leotard and cloak, but instead wore a plain shirt and thin cotton pants that bagged slightly over her bony hips. Her face was ashen and her lips blue though her forehead was burning with fever. The light sheen of sweat glistened across her skin. The dark blue sheets around her were crumpled and disheveled in her writhing moments of pain. Violet eyes were lined with purple circles that came from lack of restful sleep, and every now and then they would flash with a red glow that she would shut her eyes against and cringe, fighting inwardly. She'd lost weight almost everywhere except for her stomach, where she seemed to have gained, and her normally thin body was gaunt. Cyborg nearly cried when he looked at his Raven, this girl he'd admired for so long and finally gotten love and recognition from. She couldn't be taken from him, not so soon, not now.

"Cyborg." She gasped out, breathless. She turned on her side tentatively and faced her boyfriend. "I… it hurts."

Cyborg squeezed her hand gently.

"I know, Rae, I know." He said soothingly.

Her pained eyes widened.

"Do you know everything?" She asked, a barely noticeable hint of panic and despair behind her calm voice. Something shattered downstairs and the two could hear Beast Boy's aggravated yell from the kitchen.

"Yeah…" He said hoarsely. Raven's shirt had twisted upwards in her movements and a small expanse of her white belly showed. He moved his hand from hers and rested it on her slightly bulging stomach. She moved to stop him, surprised at his sudden movement, but realized what he was doing and relaxed visibly. He looked up at her and smiled genuinely. Raven returned it, managing to offer her own happiness to him.

"This… this is too much." He said after a moment, his smile fading slightly and his hand slipping away from her abdomen. Raven's own smile dropped off her face and she frowned.

"I mean, child, baby, kid, this is… I'm just trying to finish up being a kid myself!" He cried. "What are we going to do?!"

"Cyborg, you won't leave me… will you?" The enchantress asked weakly.

Cyborg blinked. The idea hadn't even occurred to him.

"Raven, what… I'm never, ever going to leave you." He said, taken aback by her question. "I love you!" He choked out against all his normal macho bravado. "Do you think I would do what I did with you for nothing?"

It was Raven's turn to be taken aback, but she covered it relatively easily. She breathed in deep in the meditative way she had perfected on Azarath and sat up slowly in bed, wincing. Cyborg made to help her but she waved him away weakly.

"No, Cyborg, I…" She hung her head, purple hair that had been vibrant just days ago now dull and lifeless. Then she looked up at him, and spoke softly.

"I'm half demon. Our child will have direct roots to the devil. I'm already a target, Cyborg. So what of… what of our child?"

Suddenly, Raven fell into a fit of raspy coughing. Her hands shook and speckled with red as she covered her mouth. Her body tensed and she retched, a silent stream of tears wetting her cheeks. She stiffened unnaturally, her coughing ceased, and her eyes burned red as Trigon forced his way through the barriers in her mind. Cyborg had his arms around her instantly.

"Rae, don't let him get you. Force him out, Raven. C'mon, you can do it."

Raven's body moved violently from his grasp; Trigon had control of her mind, pulling her away from Cyborg and floating suspended in the middle of the dim room. Trigon raised her hands into the air and opened her mouth to utter the words that called forth her powers, but choked. Raven, a prisoner in her own psyche, was pushing at her father's presence, shoving him away with what powers that hadn't been drained from her. The red eyes flickered to deep purple twice, and Raven's white teeth grew into menacing daggers. The plum hints finally faded away from the crimson and Trigon roared through Raven's throat a victorious cry.

"YAH!!" Cyborg yelped, jumping out of the way as a beam of darkness singed the place he'd been standing just before. Raven advanced on him.

"You." Trigon hissed, narrowing Raven's burning red eyes as he glared at the metallic teen. The voice came from Raven, but it was nothing like her own monotone. Thousands of yells and screams of Hell blended and mixed together into one chord that rang with each word Trigon formed, flaming with intangible fires deep that caused scorched and sizzled.

"You." Trigon's voice uttered from Raven's throat again, scratchy and unfamiliar to her body. A burst of black magic surrounded Cyborg so quickly he didn't even have time to cry out. "You are the reason why I must leave my kingdom to destory this threat?"

The darkness squeezed Cyborg's chest and his voice wouldn't come, lacking the air to form coherent words. Trigon let out a noise of amusement, a scraping sound that meshed together tortured screams and villainous laughter. The dark hold on Cyborg loosened a fraction, and he was able to find breath.

"RAVEN!" He yelled. "You can do it! Force him out!"

He shouted in pain and surprise as the darkness relinquished its hold on him and he fell heavily to the floor. He rolled to his feet immediately, cocking his laser cannon, whispering an apology to Raven, and shooting right at her possessed figure. The blue beam sizzled through the air, connecting with her chest, and knocking her into the wall. He ran over, but she was already up, still controlled by Trigon. His presence was larger, bigger, more intimidating then before, and he seemed to spread out from Raven's body like a misty red entity hovering in and around her.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" Trigon roared, raising Raven's arms as a torrent of crackling ebony light burst forth from her palms like water breaking from a dam. The entire tower shook at the force of this giant drawing of power. The tidal wave loomed over Cyborg, and he stepped backwards against the wall.

"RAVEN!" He bellowed. "FORCE HIM OUT, RAE!!"

The tidal wave shuddered.

"C'mon, Rae! You've almost got him!"

The wave shuddered again, leaning forward and pulled backward at the same time.

**BOOM**

A huge explosion covered the area in dust and Robin ran into the room, leaping over the fallen theatre faces statue and pieces of debri from the broken door and halting next to Cyborg.

"Hi." He said pleasantly.

Cyborg nearly fell over.

"Hi?! Do you not see the huge tower of black energy that's hovering _right there_ because Trigon was trying to shoot it at me but my girlfriend's stopping him?!" He gestured at the looming wall in front of them.

"So she _is_ your girlfriend!" Beast Boy interjected, waggling his eyebrows at Cyborg.

"What the… Where did you come from, you nasty little grass stain?!"

"Friends, we have no time for talk, for we must assist Raven in her battle." Starfire interrupted, hovering above the three with emerald hands.

Robin and Beast Boy moved to attack, but the black wall was gone. It simply vanished. On the other side, kneeling and doubled over, was Raven. Her breathing was labored and her arms wrapped around her stomach as if protecting the child to come. Cyborg and the Titans were beside her instantly, Cyborg put his arms around her and she leaned against him, breathing heavily. She looked up at her friends eyes that were tired and pained. But they were purple.

Starfire knelt next to her and held her hand as Cyborg let her rest against him, laying her hot forehead against his cool metal chest.

"I…" She began weakly.

"Don't speak if it'll hurt you, Raven." Robin said reassuringly. She shook her head, distressed.

"No," She said, her voice raspy, barely finishing her sentences. "You have to help me. We need to save... He wants our… _The child to pull his reign apart…_"

And she fell into unconsciousness.

**Author's Note:** Sorry this chapter was late. My dad just got home and in like two weeks he has to go to Iraq. **:-(** So I might have some late updating. Check in my profile for notes about it.

And, the poem is the reason the chapter is titled "Stains".

And because this stupid thing wouldn't let me put a space there, the second portion is defined by exclamation points.

**PLEASE REVIEW!!**


	11. Guidance

**Author's Note:** Here is a reviewer who cracked me up: **Timid**, I know exactly what you mean… Hey, maybe they're metal pants. lmfao! And, **LingXiaoyu**, you're very correct. Thanks go to **OneOfAKind284**, for being really understanding. :-)

This chapter takes place on Azarath. I realized that to the people who've read the comics and know all about Raven's background, reading things that so totally warp her past is irritating. So, in an effort to remain consistent, I did a little research on comic-Raven, and will incorporate that information when needed.

**Chapter 11:** Guidance

The dusky Azarathian sun dawned slowly, taking its time and rising into the gray sky with ease, pushing away its cousins the stars and the Moon to take its place and fulfill the duty of lighting the world. It spilled golden into the crevices of the green woodlands that trimmed the communities, resting on the rough bark of the trees and the soft, browning grasses of the forest floor comfortingly. The pale beams were cool and almond as they covered the clean cobbled roads and paths. The fresh white orb shed its light in misty rays on the silent, waking villages, reflecting off the tops of the sacred temples and modest homes. In one such modest home, they filtered through the gauzy window treatments and lay in pastel strips upon the wooden floors, gently illuminating the silken white sheets of Arella Roth's unmade bed.

Arella was already awake and had dressed in a purple robe that matched her hair color perfectly, and her turquoise Chakra adorned her neck with its brilliance. She sat on a cushioned seat in front of a simple oak vanity, one of the only pieces in the large, open room aside from her bed, side table, and meditative rug over which she would hover for hours. She shifted on the white fabric, reaching to her left and picking up a brush, running it through her short locks once or twice before setting it back down. She stood and left her bedroom, walking into the room across the hall that was her daughter's room.

Raven was asleep; pomegranate hair splayed over the fluffy white pillows like ribbons, and thick duvet pulled up to her chin and tucked around her feet as she curled into a ball underneath it. Arella looked at her sleeping child fondly for a moment, than reluctantly moved forward to wake her. She gently shook the girl's pajama-clad shoulder.

"Raven. Raven." She whispered, drawing her hand across her daughter's cheek. "Child, wake up."

Raven's amethyst eyes fluttered open sleepily, and she yawned, revealing a missing front tooth.

"Good morning, Mother." She mumbled, still drowsy. Arella smiled.

"Come, Raven. We must greet the day."

Raven slipped out from beneath the covers of her bed and got up, releasing another shuddering yawn. Her eyelids drooped threateningly before her eyes and she rubbed them with two fists, unsuccessfully trying to rid them of sleep. Arella opened up the drawers of the short wooden dresser and pulled out some clothing for Raven, who quietly waited for her mother to help her dress. When she was clean and clothed, the two left their home and walked slowly to the Temple Azarath.

Majestic hardwood doors adorned with elegant gold accents marked the entrance to the grand temple. It was the centerpiece of the planet, outstanding in its priests, in its meditative properties, in its history, and in its total splendor, and the pride of the Azarathian people. Arella gently pushed open the doors and led her child in, gasping at the sight before her though she'd viewed it many times before.

A huge, arching hall stretched out before them, cathedral ceilings reaching higher into the sky then the very birds that made their territory there. The ceiling was a sky of gold, carved and manipulated with an elegance and creativity, depicting the goddesses of Azarath long ago. It shone not only with reflections from the golden torches that lit along the walls, but with some sort of pulsing, inner luminosity that seemed to come from the gold itself, as though it was melted with magic from the goddesses themselves. Hung periodically on the glassy wooden walls were golden lamps carrying the flames that lit the room with warmth. In between the torches there were elegant tapestries of meditating priests and holy women that glinted in the light, spun with threads of gold. The marble floors were colored with swirls of pale white and pale brown, and the footsteps of the many people around them echoed. Azarathians walked from place to place, visiting priests or coming to the temple to pray and meditate. Arella and Raven stood open-mouthed as they walked into the amazing temple, footsteps clicking softly on the marble.

"Miss Roth!" A voice called out. Arella stopped gazing and turned toward the sound. A man was approaching, smiling.

"Miss Roth, yes… Azar has been expecting you, and your daughter, Raven." He smiled at Raven, who scowled a bit and looked down, her longish hair falling in front of her eyes. The man's smile faded and he turned to Arella.

"This way, please."

The man led them through fine hallways to a door that resembled the front entrance of Temple Azarath, but smaller in proportion. It's golden knocker was in the shape of a bird, the beak reaching over and its eyes looking ferocious with almond-shaped rubies embedded in them.

"Here we are… Azar will call you in – "

The man was cut off as the voice of an old woman came from the other side of the door, irritated and impatient.

"Just let them in, already!" She said, leaving the man flustered and a bit embarrassed. The door opened and a tall old woman emerged, beckoning them inside and shutting the door soundly behind them once they were in. Arella came into the chamber first, gently pulling the silent young Raven behind her. It greatly resembled the modest room in which Arella had confided the secret of the prophecy to Salus in, but with imperial touches like the expensive, rare collection of incense burning its light and calming aromas, and the meditating cushions sewn with golden threads. Taking up an entire wall was an enormous tapestry depicting a beautiful woman clothed like royalty. Azar noticed Arella staring at the embroidered fabric and smiled.

"That, my dear, is my grandmother, the original Azar."

"She was beautiful." Arella said breathlessly. She ripped her gaze from the artwork and turned back to Azar. The old woman sat cross-legged, hovering above a cushion. Her long hair was white, tumbling down her shoulders in elegant curls with a stripe of black that sprouted from the part and wisped into a curl of its own. Her thick black lashes surrounded a gemlike blue, giving her a youthful appearance despite the crows-feet that spread from the corners of her eyes. She wore a white robe embroidered with every shade of blue, and her Chakra glowed the colors of the sea as she floated, hands in front of her and fingertips pressed together though her palms didn't touch. She opened her eyes.

"Yes. My grandmother was very beautiful." She paused and breathed in deeply the scents that the smooth smoke carried before closing her eyes once more. "Join me in meditation, Arella. Does the child know the art?"

Arella breathed in the incense and floated up into the air, bobbing slightly. Raven sat silently on the cushion beside her now airborne mother, gazing unwaveringly at the old woman in front of them.

"No… No she does not."

Azar exhaled.

"That will be the first thing I teach the young one. She will stay with me until I pass away, Arella, you know this."

Arella nodded, eyes still closed.

"She is the demon child. She is the hope, yet also, the destruction."

"She must go with you… I know not enough to tame the demons inside of her."

Raven's face looked up in surprise at her mother. But still she said nothing, sitting patiently while the two women meditated together. After a few moments Arella sighed, opening her eyes and falling gently from the air.

"Azar, I must go. Let me bid my child goodbye, and then she will be yours, under your guidance."

Azar nodded her consent, eyes still closed in meditation. Arella knelt beside her daughter, taking her small pale hands in her own.

"Raven, I must leave you. Stay with Azar, let her teach you, and we will meet again another day."

Raven opened her mouth to protest, her face full of despair and her eyes clouding with tears, but Arella put a slim finger to her lips.

"I must go. I cannot teach you what this woman can! You will be great, my daughter, and I hope that you will find happiness and love… but now I must say goodbye to you, my Raven."

She kissed her daughter on the forehead, her own brown eyes watering, and slowly exited the room, looking back one last time at Raven, who was staring at her mother with disbelieving, betrayed eyes. Arella squeezed her own eyes shut and left quickly.

As the door swung behind Raven's mother, Azar opened her eyes, floating down from her suspension.

"Child…" The old woman said soothingly as Raven looked down, streams of tears on her face. "You will see her again, but you must learn the ways of Azarath. Meditation will be your escape, dear. I will teach you everything you need to know."

Raven looked up at her new teacher and smiled weakly through her tears. The older woman smiled warmly back.

"Now," She said, businesslike. "We shall start immediately. I will teach you how to meditate. It is a skill all Azarathians should know."

The little girl nodded, smiling shyly, her sleek purple locks swaying gently.

"It takes nothing to hover as we do, Raven… Merely breathe deep, calm yourself, and let the air lift you like a feather of your namesake…"

Raven closed her eyes and imitated Azar, crossing her legs and placing her fingertips together. She breathed in deeply and –

"Oh!" She exclaimed, feeling herself raise into the air. She fell with a thud, wincing as her bottom missed the cushion and hit the hard floor. Azar laughed quietly.

"No, no, dear… Do not be afraid of it. Accept it, and it longs to accept you."

Raven pushed her hair out of her face and closed her eyes once more, pressing her fingertips hard and concentrating. As she opened her eyes, she gasped, but maintained her place in the air.

"Good, good." Azar said approvingly. "Now… find your center…"

**Author's Note:** Short chapter, I know… but I like writing about Azarath, and I really wanted to update. Expect more chapters like this one, taking place in Raven's past and in Azarath.

**Please Review! **

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	12. Falling

**Author's Note:** I'm glad that all my attempts at creating a realistic Azarath have been such a success. Thanks go to my reviewers, you wonderful people you! **:-D**

Omg, I wrote this chapter while listening to Britney Spear's "Every time" and I almost cried! Whew. I don't know. I'm crazy. The first part is a bit sad… bit dismal. CURSING IN THIS CHAPTER!

**Chapter 12:** Falling

_Let me rest in peace._

_That treasure so desired _

_Which taunts me in my pain,_

_May grasp and comfort me_

_In my greatest escape._

_"Rest Me In Peace"_ Raven Roth

A month went by, then a second, both with no disturbance from Trigon. He seemed to be either leaving his daughter alone for the time being, or Raven had successfully stowed him away. But although Trigon's silence was a relief, it was a tense one. Like the calm before the storm, the apprehension and anxiety built up, an uneasy rest before a hurricane. The Titans handed over the crime-fighting regimen to the Jump City police, taking all their time trying to nurse their comrade to health. Tensions were high, and explosions of short temper were frequently occurring due to frustrations and exhaustion. Starfire's cheeks seemed permanently stained red, her emerald eyes always glossy and red-rimmed with tears as she saw the other female of their team withering away before them, desperately trying to hold on to life for her child and her friends.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SHOVE ME, DUDE! WHAT'S YOUR DEAL?!" Beast Boy exploded at Cyborg, who'd bumped coldly into him on his way to the kitchen. Cyborg whirled around, narrowly missing colliding with Starfire, who backed away from the two and stood awkwardly on the side, out of the way, watching the scene with watery eyes.

"What's my deal?! WHAT IS MY DEAL?? MAN, HAVE YOU BEEN ASLEEP THIS ENTIRE TIME?!" He shouted, a bit of spit spraying on Beast Boy, who made a face of disgust.

"You're not the only one who cares for her, Cyborg!" Beast Boy retaliated, angrily shaking a fist at Cyborg. "You're acting like we don't even CARE that she's dying!!"

"Shut up, you bastard!" Cyborg roared, shocked and angered that Beast Boy would bring up the tender subject, though it lingered in all of their minds.

Beast Boy scoffed.

"Me? Bastard? What about that kid, huh, Cyborg? THAT'S THE BASTARD, CYBORG! THAT'S THE –"

In a swift movement that sent Beast Boy flying, Cyborg punched him in the face, hitting his nose with a crack. Beast Boy slammed into the table, sliding down and crouching with his hands over his face, eyes squinting in pain. Thick blood trickled between his fingers, red and slick on his green skin.

"Hey! HEY! What's happening here?!" Robin demanded, running into the room after hearing the crash. He spotted Beast Boy hunkered down on the floor, nose oozing and spotting the floor with dots of red as it dripped from his face. Robin turned to Cyborg, immediately realizing what had happened.

"Why'd you hit him, Cyborg? We've got enough problems without you two fighting."

Cyborg ferociously glared at Robin, a vein throbbing in his temple.

"Robin, don't tell me you wouldn't hit somebody who called your kid a bastard." He said with forced calm, still breathing heavily. He looked down at his hands, which were clenched into tight fists. A stain of red tinted the metal, hardening to a crust on his knuckles.

Robin hesitated for a moment, but plunged onward.

"Still, you can't just beat your teammates up, Cyborg!" He declared, standing firm.

"You need to shut up, bird brain, or you're gonna get what he just did." Cyborg growled, a warning in his tone.

Robin raised an eyebrow contemptuously.

"Is that a threat?" He said coolly, standing tall and reminding Cyborg just exactly why he was the leader of the Teen Titans.

"YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT IS, PUNK!" Cyborg snarled, moving to attack the swift teen in front of him. Robin set his footing and glared menacingly at him. Beast Boy took his hand away from his bloody nose and made a rude finger gesture at Cyborg, who mouthed, 'I'll get you later, kid,' with as much fury as he could spare.

"**No!**" A new voice rang out. Starfire floated mournfully from her place in the shadows, her face streaming with tears. Her halo of bright hair seemed dimmed, as though a veil of sadness dulled her vibrant features. Her weeping was the only thing that could break up shouts between the men, and she brought her hands to her face and shook with silent sobs, sobs that echoed through the walls of the tower with their noiseless meaning. The Titans were falling, and she was crying for them.

"Starfire, I…" Robin began, but lost his words as his throat tightened and he pulled her into a comforting embrace. Her sobs gained momentum and she shook, tears wetting Robin's shoulder as she cried.

Cyborg put a hand on her shoulder.

"Star, I'm so sorry…" He said, but he, like Robin, trailed off.

"It was really, really stupid of us to fight like that." Robin mumbled into her hair.

Beast Boy stood from his crouch next to the table and looked at his friends guiltily. The three young men wore faces of shame.

"Sorry," They all said at once.

Starfire hiccupped from her place in Robin's arms, pulling away.

"Do you not see what we have become?" She whispered. Her voice was barely audible, but not a word was missed. "We are turning against each other, one by one. Worse than the _Rekmas_, this is our plight! In our love and concern for Raven we forget our love and concern for each other. Please, friends, please. Do not fight. The fight should be aimed, not at each other, but at the beast which plagues Raven and the child in her womb."

There was a silence at her words. The team was collapsing, falling from the inside out. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin had to admit that she was right. Starfire stood silently, gazing at her mute friends with her innocent green orbs, her pain and heartache clear as day in them.

**. . . .**

Her father remained dormant inside her, but Raven's condition didn't improve. The enchantress was ashen and sickly, never gaining weight despite the nutrients in the food that Cyborg and the Titans forced her to consume. Her frame, so thin even at perfect health, was gaunt, but her stomach was rounding. She'd explained to them all that her pregnancy would be considerably shorter than the average human woman's, due to her half-demon heritage, amounting to about five months. Cyborg worried every day for Raven and their child within her. Raven woke often after fitful grasps of sleep, and sometimes when the illness lessened, when she sat silently in her room when no one was there, she would pick up a pen and write poems. Her poetry released some of the emotions, making her breathe and rest easier.

Now, Raven breathed in deeply, inhaling the smoke of the incense she'd begged Cyborg to light for her before he'd left her side that night. Every time she breathed in the scents of her past, she drifted back to when things were easy, when she was just a little girl being taught the ways of Azarath by the granddaughter of Azar herself.

_"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" A nine-year-old Raven cried out, suspended in the air. Her blue cloak billowed behind her in the wind, and her eyes were glowing white diamonds beneath her hood. The Azarathian sun shone pale on her bare legs, cooling as the day dwindled. She thrust her white palms outward, yelping as the black power burst from them with such intensity that it threw her backwards and into a tree. An older woman approached her and extended a hand to help her up as she rubbed the back of her head, wincing from the blow._

_"Child, you grow too strong." Azar said, shaking her head of curly white hair and pushing the single coiled wisp of black out of her face as the wind rushed around them. "But with the strength you lack control. These are not the powers of a normal Azarathian woman, child. Your lineage provides you with strange abilities that I know not yet how to tame."_

_Raven looked down at her boot-clad feet, staring into the blue fabric until her eyesight blurred. The forest around them was quiet in the ways of nature; gentle swishes as the wind rustled through the leaves of the trees, miniscule crunches as forest creatures stepped daintily among the foliage debris, the faint trickle of icy water that flowed slowly and consistently between slippery rocks and damp gullies. The wind had picked up, caressing the forest with its soft hands. Pallid sun was fading beneath the horizon, and the far away homes of the village south of the wood seemed to glow as the light passed behind them on its way to exchange places with the dark. Raven and Azar stood in the middle of the wood together, attempting without success to tame Raven's fluctuating powers. _

_"I believe the only thing that will help you is meditation. It calms you and gives you control." Azar continued, causing Raven to look up from her boots. Azar looked at her charge with penetrating sapphire eyes, and Raven averted her gaze, unable to hold eye contact with the noble woman. Azar's expression softened._

_"Raven, look me in the eye." She pushed her white curls away again as one flew idly into her face with the breeze. Raven looked up at her tutor, and gem colors clashed._

_"You are special, Raven. You mean hope for the world. Let us break from this, and meditate together."_

_Raven nodded, her purple hair bobbing in its short cut. _

_"I _am_ tired…" She said slowly, looking around at their forest surroundings. The shadows were darker now, more pronounced as night tiptoed behind them like a stalking cat. "All right." _

_Azar smiled._

Back in reality, Raven grimaced as a wave of pain struck her, wishing for Cyborg, though he could have done nothing to help her. She found herself idle, wondering whether death was truly fascinating, whether death was truly the greatest rest that desperate people found in their times of weaknesses. She shook her head roughly as the thoughts of suicide pulled at her, but woozily regretted it as her head spun.

_'Father, I will kill you one day for everything you have done!'_ She thought murderously, her anger building.

_'Ah, but before that, daughter, I will kill the child who threatens my kingdom… but not you, for with you, there is always hope for… a change of heart.'_ A horribly familiar voice spoke in her head, sarcastic and evilly amused.

Raven gasped, brought her index and middle fingers to her temples and breathed deeply.

_'Get **OUT**!' _

But instead of being forced away from Raven's mind, he came forward, springing on her as she instinctively curled into a ball, her thin arms wrapped around her protuberant belly. Her face contorted and she ground her teeth together, holding on and desperately trying not to let Trigon take control. But the purple dimmed from her eyes, swallowed by fire, and her straight white teen sharpened into daggers as she was shoved into a corner of her mind, trapped and bound with psychological ropes. Trigon let out a laugh, harsh and alien to her throat, and stood. Raven's body wobbled, and he had to grasp the bedside table in support, but commanding strength he led her from her room. Her screams were silent, angry and pained, her mouth trying unsuccessfully to utter words. The darkness of her mind surrounded her, and she could vaguely make out the reddish hue that was Trigon's presence lingering over her, pulsing with her heartbeat and leading her body like a puppet.

The show continued. Trigon walked his marionette into the living room of Titans Tower, neglecting to flick on the light switch and standing in the dark, looking through the wide expanse of windows before him and gazing at the full moon. Stars dotted the sky like dripped bleach on a dark shirt, smudged and lackluster. Raven thought of what Robin and Cyborg would say, something like,

_"That sky looks bleached –"_

_"It must be a villain – "_

_"We hate dirty laundry – "_

_"Time to dry clean some evil."_

She let out a snort of amusement, temporarily forgetting her situation at the comforting thought of her friends and their idiotic one-liners. Trigon twisted her face into a scowl.

A sleepy yawn was heard behind them, and Trigon turned to see Beast Boy half asleep, stretching and blindly walking into the kitchen for a late night glass of water. He scratched his side in a gesture reminiscent of a chimp, yawning again as he turned with his glass to head back to his room. He looked around, and gasped.

"Raven?!"

Trigon shot out with Raven's powers, capturing Beast Boy and covering his mouth before he could yell.

"Be quiet, fool." His horrible voice hissed. Beast Boy's eyes widened in fear and recognition.

"MMYFFHON!" Beast Boy yelled, his voice muffled by the hold Raven's powers had over him. He swung his legs back high and twisted, wriggling out of the darkness and hanging from it by his knees. He flipped over backward and landed with a stumble before Trigon, who stared down at him with burning eyes.

Beast Boy darted away, running as fast as he could, narrowly avoiding an onslaught of dark energy as Trigon advanced on him. The changeling shuddered into the form of a cheetah, picking up speed and racing to Robin's room, where he unceremoniously barged in, urging the sliding door to shut faster than it did. He leaned his back against the closed door, breathing a sigh of relief and moving to wake the leader of the Titans. But Robin had already sat up, masked eyes open immediately, hair tousled from sleep and clothes wrinkled.

"Beast Boy, what is it?" He demanded, throwing the covers off of him. He scooted sideways and sat on the edge of his bed, slipping on his metal shoes. Beast Boy answered, panting.

"I, well, and she was there and –" He cut to the chase, sparing Robin the details. "Trigon's got her."

Robin let out a curse, standing.

"Get Cyborg and Starfire. I hope they're ready, cause this is going to be one hell of a fight."

**Author's Note:** All right, it seems that the average pages (in Microsoft Word) for each chapter is about 5 to 7. And you might not think it, but it's surprisingly hard to write that much, since it barely shows how long it really is when you read it on ff.net. So, be proud of yourself and all your fellow writers out there, cause I declare today **_NATIONAL FF.NET UNAPPRECIATED WRITERS DAY!!_** WOO!!!

**Throws confetti and offers reader a flag**


	13. Sacrifice

**Au****thor's Note:** Sorry for the long wait, there was so much stuff I had to do! There's some fighting and some Azarath in here. The best of both worlds, my friends! Literally. Lol. But there's some important info in the Azarath part, so don't just skip over it! **laughs :-)** The title is named from the poem.

I've just put up a second fanfiction; it's called Drop-Dead Gorgeous. Please check it out; I think it's going to turn out really fabulous.

**Wysteria Fox** – Sorry, I've never read the comics… **sweat drop**

**Chapter 13:** Sacrifice

_The start of our finish,_

_The beginning of our end,_

_The rules were written solid_

_But they'll have to break or bend._

_A sacrifice of life for the safety of them all;_

_The security of nations in the price of just one fall._

_"Sacrifice"_ - Raven Roth

Past, Azarath

"Ineo," _Dona Roth murmured to a looming stone doorway, pressing her right palm against the center. The door shuddered, hissed, and creaked open to admit her. Dona tightened her grip on the prophecy orb in her left hand as she daintily descended down the rough and seemingly endless steps, squinting as the light diminished. The icicles hung in clusters on the high stone ceiling, gently dripping icy water from their gnarled, pointy tips, and the droplets splattered with tiny plops as they hit the chipped stone floor. Wafts of wintry mist floated a foot above the frozen bottom, sometimes drifting upward to twirl around the millions of tall, thin pedestals lined tightly together in rows. Upon closer inspection, one could see that each pedestal really was an hourglass, counting down time with silver sand pouring through, forming mounting piles on its bottom half. On each hourglass dais rested a pulsing glass orb filled with brilliantly colored liquid, thick and slushy, the only things brightening the gloomy vestibule. There was every color imaginable, some dim and some sparkly, some dark and some bright, but all with a strangely beautiful tone. They seemed to be sorted due to their color and hue, starting with primary and secondary and working down the color wheel to those that didn't even have names._

_The huge _Oraculum_ building was a freezing, shady place._ Improperly named, really. _ Thought the prophetess, shivering when the vapor cooled her legs beneath her robe. She stepped through the frozen isles in between pedestals toward a carved out nook in the cellar-like space where a marble desk and a short, bespectacled, knobby-kneed Azarathian man stood._

_"Dona!" The old man wheezed, limping toward the young woman with his cane helping him along and clicking gently as it did. On his gray hair and long beard were drips of melted frost, and Jack Frost had visited and drawn patterns on the man's glasses. They slid down the tip of his long nose, and he pushed them back up with a thin, wrinkled finger that shook slightly as he did so. "Not many Azarathian prophets connect so often with the forces as you, lass. Tell me it's not _Malum _again, lass!"_

_"No, Keeper, it's not _Malum_." Dona smiled, but it was a grim one. The Keeper of Oraculum was a wise old man, and had kept the prophecies under his watch for many, many years. He looked at Dona, and his emerald eyes crinkled into a reassuring and curious smile._

_"Well, give me your foretelling, lass. I must find if I have any hourglasses to spare…"_

_Dona reached out and handed the Keeper the prophecy. The old man cradled it in his palms, staring through the clear sphere and at the pearly white liquid inside. His eyes widened, the green of his irises swallowing his dark pupils as he gazed in shock._

_"_Vicissitudo_?" The Keeper whispered breathlessly, turning the object over in his arthritic hands and watching the contents lap at its confinement. He looked up at the seer before him. _

_ "Dona," He said slowly, looking into the purple eyes of his companion. "This is the first _Vicissitudo_ in two hundred years…"_

_Dona's brilliant eyes widened._

_"Keeper… I didn't realize how rare they were…"_

_The Keeper didn't answer but turned, still holding the orb, and walked along the isles of hourglass pedestals, gently tapping each one as he did. His emerald eyes were half closed in concentration, and he murmured ancient words under his breath as he stepped, his feet making a dull echoing sound on impact with the frozen floor, followed by the sharp clicking of his staff. A beat formed, throbbing through the carved foundations of the _Oraculum_ building. Dona followed him, familiar with the placing ritual. They weaved through the isles, the Keeper's voice getting louder as they neared the end, where, farther off from the others, was a solitary row of seven stone hourglass pedestals, twice as tall as those bearing the colored orbs. The hourglasses had golden sand, unlike their silver neighbors, and the sand dripped slowly, silently. Glass spheres rested on four of the seven, filled with the same gleaming white liquid – _Vicissitudo_._

_The Keeper stopped in front of the fifth pedestal. Though his feet had ceased movement and his staff was still, the rhythmic pounds echoed loudly through the icy chamber, reverberating in their chests. The Keeper placed the encased prophecy on the pedestal, and stepped back. The ground began to shake, and icicles fell from the ice-covered roof, shattering on the equally iced floor. The hourglass, previously empty, shuddered and glowed along with the miniature earthquake, filling with a golden light that drifted into tiny pieces of golden sand. The earth settled, and the glow diminished, and tiny beads flew steadily from the hourglass, forming a pile on the bottom. _

_The Keeper turned and looked at Dona._

_"You are a prophetess, lass, so I assume you are familiar with these?" He gestured behind him to the golden hourglasses._

_Dona shook her head slightly._

_"I know many things about the prophecies, but I have never seen these particular hourglasses before."_

_The Keeper cleared his throat, and spoke._

_"All of these hourglasses in the _Oraculum_ building measure the amount of time it will be until the event predicted in the orb on its head takes place. When all of the sand has reached the bottom, it will be the moment of truth, lass; when the prophecy reaches its completion." He waved his spotty, wrinkled hand at the rows before resuming his speech. "In this particular Universe, only eight _Vicissitudo_ may ever be foretold. There used to be eight hourglasses on this platform, lass. Five of the eight have already been foretold, but only one has come true so far. We retire the glass when it runs to the bottom. You look like you want to say something, lass?"_

_"Keeper, if I may… What was the _Vicissitudo_ that already occurred?"_

_The Keeper tipped his glasses down and eyed her with mysterious gemlike greens. _

_"Now, I suggest you leave. No one should stay here longer than they should, lass. It has driven the frail mind to the brinks of insanity before."_

_Dona nodded, her amethyst eyes lowering. She suppressed a shudder, shook her ebony tresses from her face and waved a small goodbye to the wise Keeper of Oraculum as she left. _

_._

Present

_"Get out! GET OUT!"_ Raven screamed at her father. _"I won't let you hurt him! Any of them!"_

Trigon laughed.

**_"Raven, Raven, Raven. Or rather, 'Rae', as that disgusting half-human lover of yours calls you… Amazing, that a threat would come from my daughter – and a robot!"_**

Raven gritted her teeth. Psychologically, that is. Subconsciously. She was bound, wrapped up in her subconscious and held captive by her father. His presence had already sickened her so much that he had taken over, shoving her aside and taking up residence inside her mind. Her physical image had changed due to his sudden influence; she towered over all, her eyes gleamed with the fires of Hell, her teeth were sharpened daggers, and she shimmered with a reddish glow that hovered around her body, vaguely shaping the satanic form of Trigon.

_"They'll save me, Trigon! You can never win!"_ She screamed in her mind, but she was terrified, terrified of what would happen. Trigon saw her fear and fed off of it, his power over her growing.

**"All I need is to kill this child, Rae."** He sneered, speaking aloud this time, knowing she could hear him either way. He tossed in Cyborg's nickname for her mockingly. **"You're next in line for the throne, and I have no desire to kill the next ruler of my kingdom…"**

"Well, I got a desire to kill YOU!" A new voice cut through the air. His cannon was cocked and ready, and Cyborg shot at Trigon, carefully aiming clear of Raven' stomach. The shot sent the startled demon cracking into the wall. The thud was almost as loud as the booming thunder that crazed outside and the pounding rain that was furiously beating at the Tower and the waters around it.

"Boo-yah!" Cyborg pumped his fist into the air, but his victory didn't last long.

Trigon was up in an instant, ensnaring Starfire and Beast Boy in Raven's dark powers. Beast Boy rapidly changed from animal to animal, but nothing freed him from the confines of blackness. Starfire assaulted her bindings with green star bolts, panting as her efforts made no headway.

"STARFIRE!" Robin and Cyborg yelled in unison. "BEAST BOY!"

Robin grabbed three birdarangs from his belt, and was about to throw them when Starfire cried out, making him hesitate.

"Robin! No! You will hurt Raven! Our friend is still inside this beast!"

Trigon laughed, the horrors of it echoing around the Tower.

**"This foolish Tameranian is correct..." **His grip on Beast Boy and Starfire tightened threateningly, causing them both to gasp for air. **"To kill me you must kill my daughter, and killing my daughter means killing her progeny…"**

"No way!" Cyborg burst out. "I'm not killin' my girl or my kid, so back off or we'll make you!"

Robin slid into place beside Cyborg, reaffirming his support behind Cyborg's words, and Trigon seemed to shrug.

**"You Titans are foolish, foolish humans – "** ("I am _not _human!" Starfire snorted indignantly.) **" – You will end up killing her, and her daughter, the only threat."**

The Teen Titan's leader opened his mouth to speak, but Cyborg did before him.

"Daughter?" He said, his mouth hanging open. He turned to Robin. "Oh my gawd, man, I'm gonna be a dad! To a little girl! My little girl!" He cried, looking close to tears of happiness and also like an idiot as he seemingly forgot the fact that a tyrannical demon was standing in Titans Tower promising to kill them all. "Wanna be godfather? Star can be godmother!" Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire sweat dropped.

"Uhh, Dude?" Beast Boy said dryly. "We sort of have a bigger problem right now." He pointed at the creature whose powerful hold he and Starfire were still in. It was Cyborg's turn to be embarressed.

"Eh heh heh… Sorry."

Inside her mind, Raven mentally rolled her eyes at her love, feeling an overwhelming burst of fondness for not only Cyborg, but Starfire, Robin, and even Beast Boy as well. Trigon suddenly howled in pain. His grip on Starfire and Beast Boy tightened, locking around their throats with force, and the two sucked in a last breath before the air was squeezed out of them. Robin gritted his teeth when he saw Starfire suffocating and looked at Cyborg. The metal man read his friend's mind and his eyes flashed. He stepped in front of Robin, who frowned determindly.

"Cyborg, I have to save her. They can't wait much longer, and I don't want to hurt Raven any more than she already is, but I haven't got a choice. Move."

Without waiting for an answer, the Boy Wonder pushed past and ran at Trigon, launching himself into the air and hitting the demon with everything he had, pushing him backwards and leaning his weight into the thrust. Caught unawares, the overlord let out a yell of fury but crashed through the glass, falling past the many stories of Titans Tower with Robin in his grasp. The jagged edges of the shattered wall were stained red, scraped with skin caught in their tiny, sharp fibers. As if the wall had been a dam, suddenly the waters burst forth, unleashed and frigid. The rain pounded on the floor of the living room, dousing the seats and the carpet, showering the table and everything in sight. Arctic wind blew through with droplets on her breast, cutting little knife-like kamikaze bombers ready to take their lives in the pursuit of watery pain. Thunder pounded and lightning flickered, but there was a strange silence, a numb silence, and a moment later, a sickening crunch echoed through the storm as the pair hit to the craggy rocks below.

**

TT

**


	14. Terror

**Author's Note:** That last chapter was evil. Heh, heh, heh. Please note that I have reposted the 3rd chapter of Drop-Dead Gorgeous, and it's totally different and new content. If you haven't read it, please do!

On to the fic! Again, the title is from Raven's poem.

.

**Chapter 14:** Terror

_A roaring sea of terror_

_Unleashed on unsuspecting world._

_The moment was predicted_

_And now it is unfurled._

_A torrent of blackened evil_

_That will conquer all the light_

_A force that can't be taken down_

_Without ferocious fight_

_"Terror"_ Raven Roth

.

Previously: _Thunder pounded and lightning flickered, but there was a strange silence, a numb silence, and a moment later, a sickening crunch echoed through the storm as the pair hit the craggy rocks below._

_._

Starfire and Beast Boy got to their feet, massaging their throats and gasping. The trio stumbled drunkenly to the jagged aperture in their wall, staring out over the edge and down. The wind thrashed on their faces and the rain was icy barbs that dug deep into their skin as they looked.

The sea was roaring, spraying the structure and the ground surrounding during its wrestling match with the air that assaulted it, using it's tiny children to puncture pits into its depths as they fell from the sky.

"I… I can't believe it." Beast Boy whispered. He swayed, and grasped a sharp triangle protruding from the break, yelping as the clear splintery lip of glass attacked his skin. He drew his hand away from the wall, revealing a bloody palm. Holding it out to the moonlight, the particles of glass that hadn't sunk into his green skin shimmered, stained red from the cuts and embedded pieces.

"They… they cannot be… dead, can they, Cyborg?" Starfire whimpered, clinging to her metal friend's elbow.

Cyborg swallowed the lump in his throat, hoping against hope that they were alive.

"Only one way to find out, Star." He said grimly. Beast Boy shifted into the form of a pterodactyl and Starfire took hold of Cyborg's arms, both of them zooming straight past the shattered hole in the glass wall and into the storm. In seconds, they were drenched. The sharp wind immediately pushed Starfire sideways, slapping at her orange skin in sharp, painful bouts. She winced, sagging downwards in the thick atmosphere. Beast Boy screeched beside her, desperately flapping his gigantic green wings against the pounding rain and wind. The storm wasn't natural; it seemed to be an already terrible storm spurred to ferocious and terrifying heights of nature due to Trigon's appearance.

Letting loose a prehistoric scream, Beast Boy tilted his dinosaur wings in a dive, scooping low and skimming the surging, frothing mass in search of Robin and the possessed Raven. Starfire hovered high in the heavens, vibrant red mane limp and flopping in her face.

"Starfire!" Cyborg yelled. "Can you see anything?"

"I see nothing, Cyborg!" She called in distress, her pretty voice nearly lost in the roars of sea and sky around them. She tightened her grip on Cyborg, who was slowly slipping from her grasp due to the downpour slicking her hands. "I cannot locate either of our friends!"

Cyborg was about to answer when a shocking scream sounded.

"Beast Boy!" The two superheroes chorused.

The green changeling's pterodactyl form was being pulled into the raging sea by one of his wings. He furiously flapped the other, desperate to take flight, but the creature grasping him had wrapped itself firmly around his appendage. The inky tentacles wormed their way up the wing, covering his body. Beast Boy switched animals to a giant whale, plunging into the depths of the sea.

Beneath the surface, Beast Boy's humongous humpback form battled with the undersea fiend Raven had become. The obsidian energy ripped and crackled even underwater, electrifying the waves with their heat. Raven's blue cloak was almost impossible to see. It blended with the current, flapping and flowing like a wave of its own. A cloud of red hung about her body, purple in the ocean's cerulean shimmer. The vague shape of the demon Beast Boy and Cyborg had seen in her mirror, it seemed to grow redder and stronger by the minute. Soon it would take over her body even more. Trigon's evil presence was affecting his empathetic friend incredibly.

_"Stop!"_ Raven cried inside her head, pounding her fists on the wall that locked her away. _"Get out of me, leave my mind!"_

**_"Be quiet, daughter."_** Trigon roared to his restless prisoner. **_"Watch me destroy your friends one by one, and then, once she is born, I will destroy your own daughter!"_**

_"No!"_ Raven cried angrily. She could feel that her child would be born sometime in the next month and she was driving herself crazy with worry for the baby girl. _"Leave them and my child and take me instead!"_

**_"Self-sacrifice."_** Trigon chuckled. His voice, even in humor, was a horrible medley of pain and suffering, of noxious fires and icy deaths. Voices screamed, yelling incoherent and pained words that melted into the message Trigon conveyed. **_ "Charming."_**

Raven's eyes flared with vehemence. She beat at the mental barrier that Trigon had created, blasting it with dying black bullets, unsuccessful in her attempts to break free. Trigon ignored her, pulling Beast Boy down into the ocean.

Beast Boy wriggled and winced in pain, the singeing power burning into his whale hide. He turned into a giant squid, slapping his tentacles against Trigon's own, but his suckers did no damage as the blackness slid slowly up his body, working up from the tips of his tentacles and surrounding each sucker and ridge of the squid body.

_"Hey!"_ Beast Boy mouthed telepathically, using comedy to cover his terror. _"I need my personal space!"_

This incredibly stupid and untimely comment was probably what saved the changeling's life. Trigon paused, listening to the inane message that had been sent toward the billowing form of Raven/Trigon incredulously. In his momentary hesitation, Beast Boy took the chance and burst into the form of a gargantuan shark, snapping and cutting at the chains around him, breaking free and rapidly changing shape. A thin, agile swordfish, he darted through the water, scooting out of the way as snakes of swarthy power shot out at him from Trigon, who had cursed his moment of delay, vowing to kill his escaped victim first.

But Beast Boy shot up faster than the dark beams chasing after him, shot up faster than the projectiles that Trigon had resorted to using, and he broke through the surface as a seagull, flapping high up into the atmosphere, out of reach. He wearily allowed himself a sigh of relief, and drifted to the roof of Titans Tower, where he returned to his human form and bent over, hands on his knees and breathing heavily.

Back on the surface, Starfire had gasped, a choking sound that seemed more like a prequel to a fit of sobbing then an inhalation of surprise.

"We can't go down there to help him! It must be Trigon who's got him!" Cyborg cried in despair.

"B.B.!" He shouted again loudly, but his voice was carried away with the piercing rain before it even skimmed the sea.

Starfire squared her slight shoulders, fixing her hold on Cyborg's arms.

"We must move on, Cyborg." She said resolutely, surprising her passenger with her determinedness to leave a friend behind.

"But Star, what about – " Cyborg began. Starfire cut him off.

"Do not remind me of this, Cyborg. If Beast Boy comes to harm I will not forgive myself, but he and Raven are out of reach. We must find Robin before it is too late."

Cyborg nodded grimly. Starfire's eyes glowed green, illuminating the droplets around them, and she sped through the black rain. Icy and sharp, it cut at the two, leaving tiny skid marks that stained their skin in scar-like colors. The air was reluctant to let them pass. It pushed at them, forcing them backwards, but Starfire was too determined and too strong to let wind determine her actions. The Tameranian swooped downwards, lowering toward the serrated boulders below. She dropped Cyborg from the air about three feet above the ground and he landed heavily on the stones, placing a hand on the ground to steady himself on the slippery surface. She hovered beside him.

"Let's split up." Cyborg instructed. "We'll cover more ground that way. If ya… if ya find him… just shoot a Star Bolt up into the sky and I'll come and find you. If I'm the one who finds him, I'll send up a beam from my cannon."

Starfire nodded. She flew off in the opposite direction, face full of fortitude and eyes nearly burning with emerald heat.

The mechanical man clattered around the rocks, slipping and sliding. Salty spray showered him, and bits of seaweed clung to his metal joints and brown skin. The rain was relentless; it tirelessly pounded on the terrain, merciless and horrible. Erosion seemed inevitable in the near future. The showers were slanted, cutting things, and Cyborg held his forearm in front of his face to ward off some of the water. He was constantly blinking, moving bleary water out of his eyes to clear his vision.

It had to have been later than midnight, because the darkness of the sky was oppressive and hungry. The navy clouds blocked out any glimpse of moon or starlight that he'd hoped would light his way, so he used his shoulder light, flipping it up and on with a thought. Although bright, it seemed to bounce off the sheets of wetness and into his eyes. Resignedly, he shut it off, preferring the brume and murk to glare.

He squinted, trying to see more than a foot in front of him, and nearly jumped out of his skin when a noise came up from behind him. He spun, arm cannon cocked and ready, powering up with blue.

"Who is it?!" He demanded. Then he lowered his cannon, blinking with confusion. "B.B.? Is that you?"

A green tiger roared lightly, stepping into the blue aura. Its shaggy coat was soaked and bedraggled, much like Starfire and Cyborg were. The scrubby bottoms of his large paws tracked on the slippery rock, assuring him good footing, and his feline eyes were adjusted to the night around them. The tiger took a second to morph back into Cyborg's fellow Titan.

"Dude, you're not gonna shoot me, are you?" He chuckled weakly.

Cyborg grinned.

"Not a chance, man. But damn! You scared me half to death."

"Eh heh heh… sorry about that." His companion said apologetically, hand rubbing the back of his neck. The mood suddenly got heavy again, and both of the drenched Titans looked forward.

"How did you get out of there, anyway?" Cyborg asked as they continued the search, curious despite the situation. Beast Boy cracked his knuckles out in front of him.

"Well, you know the master can over come any obsta –YAHH!" The green boy fell over something, wincing. " – cle?" He finished, picking himself up. The wind whistled, ominous. He looked down and gasped.

"Oh, God."

Cyborg came up behind him.

"What'd you trip over, B.?" His voice tailed off as he followed Beast Boy's horrified gaze.

"Jesus Christ." He muttered, eyes wide.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!" Beast Boy cried, near hysteria, kneeling.

Cyborg cocked his cannon and fired it straight up into the air.

.

.

**Author's Note:** Another cliffy for you here. Well, I think it's a cliffy…

I love this chapter. So suspenseful and good! Dark… I've been getting very dark. Remember, dear readers, I'm very twisty. Things aren't always what they seem. Or they could be. **shrugs**

Have no fear, your authoress is here! ** :-D**

**Review, please!**


	15. Defeat

**Author's Note:** God, I'm so evil! I'm terribly sorry for what I've done in this chapter and the last one! Wait… **thinks** No, not really. Oh well. :-D

To anonymous reviewers "**leahgrave**" and "**Unknown**", because their reviews had valid points: No, an abortion would not solve the problem, because, if you've read past chapters, you know about the prophecy foretold by Raven's aunt. This is the kid who can eventually kill Trigon, thus ridding the world of its resident devil and lots of evils. This little unborn girl is basically the hope for Earth. Killing her would be a bad thing. About Robin… just read. The maternal instinct is a very valid point as well, and don't worry, it comes into play in this chapter….

.

**Chapter 15:** Defeat

_The only hope must live to slay_

_The demon deep in Hell's decay_

_Once thought truly hopeless, _

_The impossible was done._

_A team of mere teenagers_

_Beat the fury of Trigon._

_"Defeating"_ Raven Roth

.

_ "Please. Please."_

Raven had resorted to begging, now. She was a tiny being, a wisp of her former self, trapped in her own mind.

She hated how pitiful she sounded, how helpless. The weakness and pain in her voice irritated her, hurt her pride, but all other attempts had been unsuccessful. She obviously couldn't force him out with her powers, and his control over her mind had become so incredibly strong that she felt she could never force him out. And to make it worse, it was against her very nature to beg. She was too proud for it. She had taught to respect herself and her values when she was in training with Azar's granddaughter. She always had, always was independent, sure, serene, and suave. So, naturally, she hated what she was doing. But she was desperate. Very, very desperate. Fighting hadn't worked. She couldn't fight her father with what little powers she still possessed, and her mind was still too weak from months of illness.

_ "Please. Please just… you can take me instead…"_ Her voice was pleading, beseeching even as she spoke into the quiet of her mind. She knew Trigon could hear her.

_ **"Pitiful! Why would I give up now when I'm so close to destroying this stupid offspring once it's born?"**_ Trigon answered mercilessly. The horrible voice echoed into Raven's skull, sinking into the crevices and wriggling into the crannies of her thoughts. It pulsed and hummed, a voice so deep it seemed to burst your insides open with a single word, a single syllable. **_"Of course, before then, I'll kill the Teen Titans off."_**

_ "You couldn't even capture one of my friends, let alone kill my daughter!"_ Raven fumed, her fury growing so much that her voice was almost as powerful as Trigon's as she taunted. Beast Boy's escape just moments earlier had given her piles of material to ridicule and batter her father with, to distract him from his vows to kill her friends. Her father's howl made her flinch.

_ **"Insubordination!"**_ He snarled. The salt water around them churned and boiled, cooking fish and scorching sea creatures. **_"Never question what Trigon can and cannot accomplish!"_**

****

And with that, the tyrant spun, taking the water around them with him as he moved Raven's body like a cyclone, drawing in water and creating a whole new current in the powerful pull of the storm. The water raised upwards, a towering funnel of massive proportions. Beasts of the sea dotted the churning walls of the creation, dragged in when they weren't strong enough to refuse the call of the conduit.

The unnatural water abomination drew to an enormous height, wide and horrific. It made its way toward the shore.

.

**TT TT TT**

Starfire flew away from Cyborg to start her own search on the opposite side of Titan Island. The mass of land was muddy, the green grass limp and soggy from the torrential downpour. The obstacle course field was waterlogged, and the mechanical outpost where Robin always controlled the program hadn't been covered before the storm, and the vulnerable panels and buttons were sparking, little flickering tongues of white that licked at the air hungrily.

The wind becoming too abrasive for flight, the young Tameranian landed on the ground, standing on a slab of stone. She slipped, yelped, and hovered to avoid falling over. Trekking across the small island, she felt as if she'd landed on a particularly inhospitable planet. The landscape was like a nightmare version of her familiar home. The heavens hadn't closed up in hours, and the water was gnawing at the sides of the landmass. What few trees there had been were felled by the outrageous wrath of the hurricane; majestic and tall, nature's skyscrapers were destroyed. Starfire sighed and raised her hand, watching as it illuminated with a Star Bolt.

Holding it out in front of her, she hovered inches from the unstable ground, searching with hope and dread for the body of her best friend. The rain was coming down with even more vengeance, if that was even possible, and her Star Bolt sizzled and died after a moment's valiant effort. Starfire sighed, running her nimble fingers through her untidy, dirty, muddy hair. Stopping, she crouched and rocked on the balls of her feet, looking into a puddle and through the ripples caused by the hurtling droplets. A vague orange and red shape, she couldn't make out any details of her face except for incredibly brilliant jade almonds. But behind her was a blurry figure clad in most of the primary and secondary colors.

Starfire spun, looking apprehensively behind her.

"Robin?" She called softly.

There was no answer.

Cautiously, she peered into the pool again. The blob of the color wheel was gone…

"I am going as crazy as a blimpath after Relmerka…" She muttered.

She stood, scanning the area with a hand shielding her eyes. She had thought spotting Robin's familiar attire would be relatively easy, considering that it consisted mostly of bright reds, yellows, and greens. But she couldn't see him anywhere. Desperately, the alien hoped that he hadn't fallen into the sea. Unconscious, he could drown and drift away to be eaten by…

Starfire shook her head violently, making herself dizzy in the process. Stumbling backwards, she tripped over a protruding rock and thrust her hands out behind her to brake her fall. Jagged pieces spiked into her hands, and her bottom hit a very sharp and painful piece, leaving her with sore appendages all around. Not bothering to get up, she buried her face in her bleeding hands, sobbing tears that might as well have been blood. They were lost in the gale, invisible lines that blended with the other trickles streaming down her face.

A roar that was different from the ever-present water's brought her to her senses, and she looked toward the ocean for the source of the noise. She gasped.

Moving toward her with incredible speed was a cyclone to end all cyclones. Brutes as large as adult sharks were caught in it's cylindrical tide. From the sea it lifted up, with a narrow base and a head so wide in circumference that Starfire was sure it was even larger than Titans Tower. Eyes wide, she backed away, scrambling over rocks and mud and keeping her eyes trained on the giant twister. Mesmerized, she gaped, mouth open, stealing frantic glances behind her every now and then to make sure she didn't fall over any particularly mean surfaces of stone.

In the heart of the storm, Trigon/Raven ceased spinning, and the water fell away around them in waterfalls, still spinning rapidly as it descended back into its mother. Raven's body was tall and dark, blue cloak like a billowing storm cloud. The giant mist of cardinal color hung heavily around her, becoming clearer. The four eyes of Trigon were already visible, and more of him was becoming solid. Raven gave a cry of lament when she saw who it was that her father was after.

A crackling black tentacle of power snapped out and at Starfire, who yelped, barely rolling out of its path in time to avoid being burnt to death. Shivering, she stood up and planted her feet firmly. Her eyes, full of sedition and resolve, burned into Trigon's red ones.

"Unhand my friend, you evil tormenter!" She yelled over the turbulence around them.

The message reached Trigon's ears and he laughed. The echoes of Hell overpowered the frosty rain. Starfire froze, temporarily paralyzed by fear.

**"Tameranian."** Trigon bellowed. **"You think you can take on the son of the devil, the ruler of the underworld, the most powerful of all demons and evils?"** He laughed again, cold and humorless. It shocked more than the hypothermic temperatures that seemed to grow colder in Trigon's presence.

"No." Starfire answered truthfully, hoping her voice didn't betray how utterly terrified she was. "I do not plan on defeating you by myself. I have help."

**"Help? The metal man and the shape-shifter pose no threat to me."** Trigon said. The evils again. The deadness again. The horribles again. Starfire suppressed a shudder at the tribulations that came with his words and lifted her chin.

"I do not mean my other Teen Titans. I mean the best female friend I have ever had in my life."

Raven looked through her possessed eyes in disbelief. She was the best friend Starfire ever had? Well, best female friend, which meant she was second to Robin, but that didn't matter to her. It was something about the words… They warmed her, gave her hope. Another reason to fight. She had never felt more grateful for her Starfire's voice.

Trigon howled in pain, bringing Raven's hands up to his head as if a migraine was attacking him. Starfire shot up into the sky, emerald spheres forming in her hands.

"HYAH! HYAHHYAHHYAH!" Starfire rapidly let loose her arsenal of Star Bolts, glowing lights that smacked at Trigon, burning his half-formed flesh. Starfire tried to avoid damaging the haunted body of her friend, but she singed her on occasion. Before Trigon could react to the rapid-fire assault, Starfire backed up in the air, bringing her hands high above her head as if she was pitching a baseball.

"HAAAAAAH!" She forced out all of her power into her attack. Emerald light burst from her eyes and palms, knocking Trigon over, where he tumbled roughly across the rocks, like a pebble skipped across the surface of a lake.

Starfire moved in for a second attack, but stopped when she saw the thick blue laser beam of Cyborg's arm cannon had shoot into the air. She stared at the beacon, all air knocked out of her in disbelief.

_ 'No…'_

A whip of white-lined ebony launched out, snagging Starfire's foot and dragging her along.

"AH!" She cried, rocketing into the water-laden atmosphere and unwittingly pulling Trigon up with her as he kept his grasp on her ankle tightly. A second whip spun around her, wrapping her arms to her sides and making her look like a mummy. He was going in for the third and final blow to finish the alien off when Raven cried out.

_ "NO! I won't let you. I've taken this too long and I can beat you!"_ Raven screamed. Her voice didn't leave her mouth, but it burst into Trigon's ears. She'd figured it out. It had been obvious, and she cursed herself for not realizing it sooner. There had been so many signs…

Focusing her mind, she called forth the emotions she needed, the emotions she could draw off to defeat her father. Love was the first at her side, followed by Joy, Courage, and then Intelligence, and then Rudeness.

'Rudeness?' The blue-clad Raven said incredulously. 'What are you doing here?'

Rudeness's orange cloak was messy and wrinkled. She burped.

'Ehh.' She said, scratching her butt and pulling out a wedgie. 'Things were boring. Thought I'd join the party.'

'Like, of course you're welcome, girlfriend!' Joy giggled. 'This is going to be, like, so incredibly fuuunl!' Then she turned to the original Raven. 'But I mean, (gag me with a spoon!), did you _see_ your dad's outfit? Fashion no, girl. Only go out in public with lingerie if you have the body for it.' She twirled around, her pink cloak whirling, and stuck her hip out in a playfully seductive pose. She winked. 'Like me, baby.'

The original Raven rolled her eyes.

'Be quiet, I need to concentrate.'

She and the select emotions hovered, legs crossed Indian style. She directed all of her feelings toward the center of their circle, each feeling's emotion strengthened by the presence of the metaphorical illusions she'd called forth. It was her caring and love for Cyborg, her extreme worry and maternal love for her unborn child, her affection and gratitude to Starfire, Robin, and Beast Boy, and many, many more. A ball of pearly radiance was forming, hovering and glowing, fed by six separate lifelines of power and emotion.

Starfire squirmed in the black hold on her, slamming powerful Star Bolts down onto it, and burning holes into the strange energy, only to gasp with surprise as the surrounding darkness filled in the smoking hole with a suction sound. She didn't know why Trigon hesitated, but he hadn't made a move to kill her yet. She trembled.

Trigon was surprised when his daughter defied him. He'd thought he'd broken her spirit. Ignoring her, he'd gone to kill the Tameranian, only seeing her congregated emotions until it was too late.

The original Raven stood, grasping the lustrous ball of white energy and holding it high above her head. Joy, Love, Courage, Intelligence, and Rudeness blurred, swirling into colored mists and molding into her body. The bulb above her doubled in size, making Trigon howl in pain, letting his hold on Starfire go.

"HAAAHA!" Raven roared, scratching her throat with the volume of the yell as she used it to add one last bout to the ball. She released it. It shot upwards, filling everything with a blinding white light. The last thing Raven heard was Trigon's vengeful scream of rage and pain, and then she lost consciousness.

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**Author's Note:** One last chapter, an epilogue, and then it's all over….


	16. End

**Author's Note:** Omg, I bet you guys are waiting in suspense for this one! Dun dun duuunn. Lol. But yeah, it would have been up last night but ff.net had some problems with their system or whatever. So… here it is now. Enjoy, my dear readers, enjoy.

To **Rini Suichi**: I never said there wasn't going to be a sequel. ;-)

.

**Chapter 16:** End

_The end has come at last!_

_What salvation for those in woe._

_But is it really over, dear?_

_Alas, thou'll never know._

_"End"_ Azar to Raven Roth

.

"_What'd you trip over, B.?" His voice trailed off as he followed Beast Boy's horrified gaze._

_ "Jesus Christ." He muttered, eyes wide._

_ "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!" Beast Boy cried, near hysteria, kneeling._

_ Cyborg cocked his cannon and fired it straight into the air._

"This… oh my god." Beast Boy was still whimpering. Cyborg kept his cannon on for a full minute, just to make sure that Starfire could see it. He switched it off, watching numbly as it folded in on itself and became his hand again. He looked down again.

Beast Boy hadn't tripped over a rock or a fallen tree limb, not at all. Cyborg wished to God that he had, that this was all an illusion and they weren't really seeing what was before them. But it was real. All too real.

Robin lay sprawled out on the slab of stone, head bloody and arms and legs at odd angles. The red, yellows, and greens of his uniform were smudged and muddy, and parts of his cape ripped and torn. Singe marks dotted his skin and put even more holes and tears in his already tattered clothing. The "R" emblem on his chest was cleaved from his clothes, hanging by threads. Blood ran steadily from a gash in the back of his head, hidden beneath a mop of limp black hair, all gel washed away in the pouring rain. It colored the stone on which he lay, a thin, washed out sheet of crimson paint that spread, only to be rinsed away by relentless beads that splattered heavily on the landscape. His mask had fallen away, and his eyes, a deep brown and world-weary pair of eyes that had seen too much and were too wise for his age, were open in shock and pain. The mask lay, floating like a feather in a little puddle of water.

Somewhere inside him he knew there was no chance that Robin was still living, but Cyborg couldn't just stand there stupidly. Cyborg knelt next to the weeping Beast Boy, placing his index and middle fingers on Robin's cold neck and feeling for a pulse. He waited. None came. Still in denial, he removed his hand and shook it senselessly, not really knowing what he was doing. He put his fingers back on Robin's neck again, waiting for the reassuring thump of a heartbeat next to his jugular vein. None came.

Cyborg swallowed the lump in his throat and looked toward Beast Boy, who returned his gaze with a look of confusion and pain. Neither knew what to do. Their leader, no, their friend, their wonderful, always-there-for-you, can-do-anything friend, was gone. There was no one calling the shots now. They were lost.

Cyborg fired his cannon into the air again, and the two sat down on a rock, avoiding gazing at their cold friend, and letting the barbs of rain hit them with everything it had.

**TT TT TT**

Starfire watched in horror and awe, head craned upward, as Trigon seemed to crumble from the inside out, a brilliant white light eating at his skin like millions of insects gnawing away at a hunk of flesh. Suspended extremely high in the air, Raven's body jerked. Her arms and legs spread wide, and she jolted forward, a deep red seeping from her eyes, fingertips, mouth, and it seemed even her pores. The crimson optics she'd previously owned disappeared, revealing smoking white almonds. She shrank in size, monstrous black tentacles slurping back up into her chest. The cloudy form of Trigon was pushed from her body and out into the air, where the particles drifted away with the mist, but not before screaming vengeance…

Starfire shook herself from her reverie and raced forward, catching her friend as she fell from the sky, unconscious. The rain was ebbing away, but it still pounded on them with miniature hammers of wetness. Both girls were soaked to the bone, hair dripping and clothing drenched. Starfire laid Raven on a slab of rock, kneeling beside her and gently tapping the side of her ashen face, whispering.

"Please, friend Raven, you must wake… You forced the tyrant out all by yourself, you must gain strength."

Raven was so still that Starfire began to panic. She put two fingers next to Raven's throat, feeling the steady heartbeat against them.

"Thanks to the skies." Starfire sighed quietly with relief. She shook Raven's shoulder. "Come, Raven, we must go. We must hurry."

Raven moaned, wincing and opening her eyes, only to scrunch them shut again as the rain dropped in uninvited. She weakly waved a hand in the air above her.

"St – Starfire?" She mumbled, sitting up weakly and bracing herself one shaky hand on the rock behind her and the other on her swollen belly. "Whoa." She grabbed Starfire's hand.

"Feel this." She instructed, directing her friend's hand to her stomach.

Starfire place her hand tentatively where Raven had said and jumped when she felt a kick against her palm. She withdrew her hand, positively beaming.

"That such a small thing can make one joyous!" She exclaimed, temporarily forgetting the horribleness of the situation around them.

Raven smiled, then grimaced. She took her hand away from the rock to inspect her palms, but fell backward. Starfire grabbed her before her head could hit the hard material behind her and Raven gave her a grateful look, much chagrined. Gently propping her weak body against a slanted rock so that she could sit up without Starfire's assistance, she brought her hands to her face, inspecting them. Taking a deep breath, she chanted.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos."

A small trickle of black slipped from Raven's index finger, waving like the flame of a candle. But a second later, the rain and wind blew it out, leaving a smoking remnant on the tip of her finger. Raven sighed, wincing when the simple exhalation of air ran past her throat abrasively, and shooting pain burst in her chest. Starfire worriedly flitted around her, not quite knowing what to do.

Raven breathed in slowly, telling herself to heal from the inside out. A lavender glow encircled her, crackling slightly, and she visibly strengthened before it faded. She moved to stand, but Starfire pushed her back down.

"Really, friend Raven, do you believe you are of good enough health to move around after such an ordeal, and so far with child?"

Raven gave an exasperated noise.

"Starfire, I have no time to be tired right now, we have to –" She stopped when a brilliant blue beam shot upwards into the sky, piercing the blackened storm clouds and evaporating the wind and rainfall. Starfire gasped, and scooped Raven up.

"Starfire, wha – AHHH!"

Starfire gave no time for refusals or protests, but sped off toward the source of the beam; Cyborg. The scenery was a blur as the rushing Tameranian carried Raven around the isle.

"Starfire, can't we –" But she was cut off yet again as Starfire spoke.

"Look!" She cried, pointing. Cyborg and Beast Boy sat next to each other, faces expressionless and silent. There was no friendly kidding now, no teasing jests that came with their companionship of one another. Their faces lifted slightly as Starfire skidded to a stop in the air, placing Raven in Cyborg's arms. Raven embraced Cyborg, locking her arms around his neck and whispering into his ear as tears of relief washed Cyborg's face. Beast Boy watched them with a resigned look, uncharacteristically silent, not making any jokes.

"Where is he?!" Starfire broke in, dislodging Raven's embrace and shaking Cyborg's shoulders. Raven looked away from her friend with a sort of guilty countenance, as if she herself were the cause of what Starfire was about to see. "Where is Robin? Tell me, please!"

Cyborg stiffened, then looked away. Raven was sobbing against his chest, somehow able to let loose her despair.

"Over there…" Beast Boy answered for his mechanical friend, and Starfire turned and looked at the rocks. Her face fell, and her heart broke. She ran toward the body of the leader of the Teen Titans, kneeling beside him and hoisting his cold form into her lap. She felt his neck for a pulse in denial, like Cyborg, then stared in disbelief at his face. His deep brown orbs looked up at her and she shuddered, closing his eyes and howling, a voice so filled with pain that the others winced and their own hearts cracked a second time. The downpour seemed to part for her, and the wind seemed to cease for her, and the sea seemed to stop its roar in reverence of the frantic girl. Her tears were a downpour in their own right and she ran her fingers through his black hair, feeling it for once without gel spiking it up.

Removing her hand from his short hair, she gasped. Her hand was soaked in blood, dark and thick. It slowly slid down her fingers and her forearm, dripping off the end of her elbow as she watched in horror. She burst into a second torrent of tears and cried, bringing Robin's body up and cradling it in her arms, helpless, hopeless…

**TT TT TT**

A week after the incident, Raven was recovering surprisingly fast, and though the atmosphere was incredibly different and strained, the Titans were trying to live out their lives. The hospital had proclaimed that the baby was perfectly fine, which brought the Titans a happiness that filled in the void just a bit.

_"She is the savior of the world, Raven."_ Starfire had said. _"Of course she has lived through this unscathed."_

But today the Titans had things to do.

The funeral was a solemn affair. Bruce Wayne attended, as well as the Justice League, and city officials and peoples of great authority. The Teen Titans stood in the front row of seats, having a clear view of the urn where the ashes of Robin's body were. It was held outdoors, in a park provided by Mr. Wayne. Robin had always loved the outdoors. The sun was shining brutally, as if to make up for the torrential storm that Jump City had just experienced, but it seemed harsh and unforgiving to Starfire. The few clouds that drifted through the sky meandered aimlessly, spitefully taking the shape of things that reminded her of Robin. A bird, a mask…

The minister was speaking.

"And now, we have some people who would like to say a few words…"

Starfire stood, wearing a black dress that reached her ankles, and a black hat that blocked out most of the sun. The steamy rays hit her bright red hair and shone on her emerald eyes, making her look beautiful even in mourning, and she became the object of many looks of affection from the men at the funeral. This infuriated her so that she had to use the techniques Raven had taught her long ago to maintain a calm demeanor.

At the podium, she began to speak.

"Robin… I loved him. I still love him. He was my best friend. He will always be my best friend. He… died…" Her voice choked. "In saving my friends and me. I owe him so much, including my life. He saved me so many times, and helped me when I had troubles, and was always there for me to reassure me when I thought I knew nothing of Earth's ways. I still know very little compared to what Robin knew, but he was teaching me all he could. He was my greatest friend." Starfire's voice cut off again, and she could feel the tears building in her emerald eyes.

The audience was silent, listening to Starfire's emotional tribute to the teen hero. A bird trilled in the pause.

"I blame no one except Trigon for the de –" Again, she could barely speak the word. " – ath of my best friend. I love all of my fellow Teen Titans no matter what happens, no matter what we go through." She paused to spare a smile, weak but genuine, at Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy. Raven, who still believed that her father's horrible deeds were somehow her fault, smiled back gratefully, though her eyes were full of sadness.

"Robin will never be forgotten. He was loved, is loved, and will always be loved. He will always be Robin…" She looked around at those congregated underneath the tent, which brought shade, though little pinpricks of sunlight glaringly burst through the weave. "He will always be my hero."

There was a silence, and then a single person clapping. The sound echoed in the clearing and heads turned to see who had started the ovation. Bruce Wayne stood in the back, halfway in shadow, clapping loudly and steadily at her words. His clapping was joined by the Teen Titan's clapping, and soon the entire tent had erupted in applause at her sentiments. Bruce Wayne slipped away, but not before glancing one last time at the alien girl. Starfire looked at him, eyes shining with thankfulness, and he tipped his hat at her, and vanished.

A bird trilled in the background.

.

**TT**

**Author's Note:** Alright, there will be people who will absolutely hate this chapter… but it works for the story. :-) Anyway, I think it was a pretty powerful one. Hope you enjoyed!

Next up, Epilogue… but before then…

**REVIEW!**


	17. Epilogue

**Author's Note:** You know… I have nothing to say for once… lmao

**Chapter 17:** Epilogue

Raven sat in a white bed in a hospital, glowing with such uncharacteristic happiness that it was hard to recognize her. Upon closer inspection, one could see what made her so joyful. Nestled in her arms was a tiny baby girl.

A single silky lock of curly black hair coiled on top of her tiny head, the tip of it falling in front of her brilliant amethyst eyes. She blinked, black lashes swatting the air, and reached her light brown hand up, twisting her tiny fingers around her mother's thumb.

Cyborg was sitting near her, his own expression one of giddy pride and happiness. He sobered for a second, and looked at Raven.

"Um, Rae?" He said, somewhat nervously. She looked at him, eyes full of laughter, like the day they'd fixed the T-car together. Cyborg got down on one knee, withdrawing a black velvet box from a compartment in his arm. He flicked open the top of the box and revealed a beautiful gemstone the same color as Raven's (and now her daughter's) eyes. It was fixed on a silver ring that shone as bright as the jewel, and engraved on the ring was the initials RS. Raven's eyes widened and she drew in a breath.

"Will you marry me?" He blurted, holding out the ring.

Raven's mouth opened in shock and she blinked rapidly.

"What?" She said stupidly, stunned, bewildered, and not quite getting it.

Cyborg almost laughed, but looked sincerely at her, and slid the ring onto her left ring finger.

"Will you be my wife? Mrs. Victor Stone?"

Raven's shocked expression broke into a grin big enough to cover her whole face. She pulled him to her and kissed him soundly, and he returned the kiss.

"Is that a yes?" He asked when they parted.

"No," Raven said sarcastically. "I'm playing with your emotions and kissing you for no reason."

Cyborg smiled.

The baby gurgled happily between them, and they both looked at their new daughter. Suddenly, the door slid open and a new figure appeared in the room.

"Hey, hey, hey, Beast Boy's here to bring the cheer!" Beast Boy practically shouted. The baby in Raven's arms giggled, which caused Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy's jaws to drop.

"Sh-she thinks I'm funny?" Beast Boy asked incredulously, dumbfounded. The baby pointed and giggled again.

"Ah-ha!" Beast Boy cried triumphantly. He turned to Raven, waggling his eyebrows. "See? Toldja you think I'm funny."

"That's not me, Beast Boy." Raven said in her monotone, staring at Beast Boy like he was the dumbest person in the world.

"Yeah, well, she's got part of you, doesn't she?" Beast Boy insisted, to which Raven rolled her eyes. Cyborg watched the familiar bickering fondly. _'Some_ _things never change.' _ He thought. They were all hurting, deep and scarred from the death of the leader of the Teen Titans, but slowly, incredibly slowly, it seemed, the wounds were healing.

"Speaking of that, when are you going to decide a name for her? You can't wait too long or I'll have to start calling her 'it'."

"It takes time to decide a name, Beast Boy." Raven said, somewhat cuttingly. "The title has to fit her."

"Friends!" Starfire burst through the door, carrying a huge armful of child's toys. She dumped them on the bed at Raven's feet. "Let us play with the baby!"

Raven gave a quiet laugh.

"Star, she's only about a week or so old. They won't let me out of this place!" She added to Cyborg with a twinge of irritation.

Starfire's face fell.

"So… these will not work?" She asked, disappointed. But she smiled again when she saw the baby. "May I?"

Raven nodded a yes, and Starfire picked up the baby happily. She was glad to see that her child made Starfire forget the loss of Robin, which was hitting her hard. She was rarely her cheerful self any more, and if this helped, then Raven was going to let Starfire hold the baby as much as she liked. The baby made a little noise of happiness as Starfire rocked her gently.

"Whoa, Raven, where'd you get that rock?" Beast Boy suddenly interrupted, goggling at the gemstone on her hand. Raven smiled and looked at Cyborg, who grinned modestly.

"Ohhh, I get it. Cy popped the question, didn't he?" Beast Boy winked at Cyborg, who ignored his green friend. Unfazed, Beast Boy continued. "Can you believe all this started just because me and Star and Robin went on that vacation?"

Starfire stiffened at Robin's name, and silently handed the bundle in her arms back to Cyborg. But when the small child left the Tameranian's arms, she plucked from Starfire's pocket a piece of fabric. Starfire gasped.

The little girl held the mask in her tiny brown hands, turning it over and over. The four Teen Titans froze, watching as the Stone's daughter lifted Robin's trademark piece of clothing to her face, holding it in place with her hands. It looked oddly right on her face, as if she was meant for it. The Titans watched her as she took the mask off and put it back on, holding it gently as if it was something she really cared for.

"Cyborg?" Raven said slowly, still watching her daughter.

"Yeah?"

"I think I have a name for her."

Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire looked at her interestedly.

"What might this name be, friend Raven?" Starfire asked, surprising herself when she found she didn't mind the little girl playing with the eyeshade.

"Robin."

The Boy Wonder's namesake smiled, putting his mask back on her face.

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**Author's Note:** I hope you like the ending. I found it particularly sweet. I've already started on a sequel because I thought it would be SO FUN to make one.

If you like my writing, please check out my other works, which I assure you are just as good. Also, you can always find notes and update reports in my profile. Thanks!

One last thing… Please, please,** please review**!

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And now I'm out. :-)


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